Helen Etta Saunders

WEST BETHEL - Helen Etta Saunders, formerly of West Bethel, passed away peacefully on Sunday, November 14, 2010 at Market Square Health Care Center in South Paris. She was 86.

She was welcomed into Heaven by those who preceded her in death, her parents, Margaret Wilson Hayes and Roland F. Hayes Sr.; her husband of 63 years, Raymond Saunders, Sr.; her daughter, Brenda Gail Buck and her sister, Doris Gorham.

She attended the Shelburne Village School in Shelburne, NH and graduated from Gorham High School in 1941. She worked local inns and wood factories. She enjoyed working at the Philbrook Farm Inn in Shelburne.

Mrs. Saunders was a very active member and held several officer’s position in many organizations: Bethel Senior Citizens, Pleasant Valley Grange (West Bethel), Oxford Pomona Grange, Maine State Grange, National Grange, Gorham Alumni Association and DuPont Holmes Auxiliary of Gorham, NH. She was a member of the West Bethel Church and served on several local committees as well.

Her greatest joys were her family and especially her grandchildren.

Surviving are a son, Raymond Saunders, Jr. and his wife Karen and their children Rachel and Juli of Warrington, PA; son-in-law, Warren Buck, husband of Brenda Buck; grandchildren, John Saunders and wile Linda of Levittown, PA, Penny Blake and husband Harlan of Bethel and Shari Corriveau and husband Fabian of Greenwood and great-grandchildren, Alexis Kennedy of South Paris, MacKenzie Blake of Bethel and Cameron. She is also survived by her brothers and sisters, Roland Hayes and wife Roma, Warren Hayes and wife Nina, Richard Hayes and wife Mildred and Tillie Meyers and husband Burt, all from Shelburne, NH; Dorothy Bean of Bethel; Shirley Lemay and husband George of Merrimack, NH and Charles Hayes of Eagle, WI.

Family and friends attended a visitation from 10 to 11 a.m. on Wednesday, November 17 followed by funeral services at 11 a.m. at Oxford Hills and Weston Funeral Services, 1037 Main St., Route 26, Oxford. Interment was at Songo Pond Cemetery on the Crocker Pond Rd. in Albany. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Mrs. Saunders' name can be made to the West Bethel Church. On-line condolences may be expressed to the family at www.oxfordhillsfuneralservices.com.