NEW GLOUCESTER – Anne McCormack rose on tiptoes to scoop cookie dough onto baking sheets, then dashed to a giant oven to check baking bread.

These daily rituals will come to an end at noon Saturday, when the Village Bakehouse closes forever.

The quaint bakery was created by McCormack nearly 14 years ago from her kitchen on Intervale Road. Today, it is a thriving business housed at Connemara Farm on Peacock Hill Road. Dedicated customers come from near and far. The bread, cookies and other baked goods are distributed from Bethel to Monhegan Island.

But McCormack is tired, she said this week. “I feel since my sister was killed, my life is passing me by.”

Her sister, Jane McCormack of Falmouth, died after she was struck by a teenage skier at Sunday River Ski Resort in February.

Anne McCormack, 45, is the fifth of seven children raised in Portland and is the mother of three teenage children.

“My bread baking is a humble craft and a dying art,” she said. “When I started my business, I believe there had been a void in the marketplace of good, basic breads, simple and delicious, flavorful in itself.”

She has stayed true to her craft, refusing to sacrifice quality to inferior ingredients, bread mixes or mass production by machines, McCormack said.

“The breads I make are an extension of myself, and a special relationship exists where I know innately how my product will come out,” she said.

The Village Bakehouse is a vibrant part of the rural character of New Gloucester. It’s the social gathering place, where people exchange information, greet one another and take a breath from life’s busy pace.

Among many others, Nancy and Edgar Wilcox of Intervale Road have been regular patrons.

“I feel she had a goal and she should be proud of the wonderful thing she created,” said Nancy Wilcox. The Wilcoxes plan to be at the bakery on Saturday to applaud McCormack’s efforts when the shop closes.

Lori Fowler of Lower Gloucester is credited with inspiring Anne McCormack’s bread-making journey. Fowler remembers giving her a jar of bread starter when she was the family’s baby-sitter. “She has put so much into this,” Fowler said. “Her bread came out much better than mine.”

Fowler was at the shop on Tuesday when McCormack announced the closing.

“That place was busy,” she said. “People kept coming in and out. There are so many people who like that bread. What do you do, go back to Shaw’s?”