Madeleine Artières Hamilton

Madeleine Artières Hamilton died peacefully, on April 12, 2023. She was 91.  Madeleine is survived by her children: Melissa Hamilton of New Jersey, Simon Hamilton of California, and Gabrielle Hamilton of New York City, as well as a nephew and niece, grandchildren, great grandchild, and many cherished, devoted  friends  far and wide.  Madeleine was predeceased by her oldest son, Jeffrey David Hamilton, her second oldest son, Todd Hamilton, and her sister Jaqueline Artières Beaman.

Born on July 12, 1931 in Brookline, Massachusetts to French parents ( Louis A. Artières and Yvonne Masson Artières) who emigrated to the United States to accept her father’s position as violist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Madeleine was steeped in classical music, opera, and the ballet  from the moment she was born. She spent many fondly remembered childhood summers at Tanglewood with her parents and began to study ballet seriously as a very young girl, able to be ”en pointe” in toe shoes by the age of 4.  After she graduated high school she danced at the Boston Pops, the Paris Opera House, and  then  moved to New York City to join the corps de ballet at the Metropolitan Opera of New York.  During summer stock productions at St. John Terrell’s Music Circus in Lambertville, New Jersey she met and married James H. P. Hamilton and raised her family with him in nearby Bucks County, Pennsylvania.  

Madeleine moved to the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont in 1978. She owned and operated the Peacham Store for many years where she daily prepared gourmet take-out meals, homemade baguettes, and pumped a lot of gas.    

She was fiercely independent, eternally curious, had a wonderful sense of humor, loved Vermont and Vermonters,  and was prolific as she foraged her secret spots  in the surrounding woods during chanterelles and ramps seasons.  Into her 90th year she continued to drive her own car, do her own grocery shopping, cook her own meals, tend her own garden, and still took long walks even during deerfly and mud seasons.  She had the radio tuned to the classical music station all day long and at night as she slept—a constant companion.  

She lived a long and rich life and died when it was right. She will be missed by many.

Memories and condolences may be shared with family at saylesfh.com.