Normand Madore

Dr. Normand William Madore died on Dec. 5, 2023, from cancer at his Stoddard, New Hampshire, home with his son by his side. He was 97.

Born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on June 21, 1926, Normand was the second child of Telesphore and Regina (Corriveau) Madore. He attended St. Gabriel Boys School and St. Johnsbury Academy after his parents moved to the St. Johnsbury/Lyndonville area of Vermont. Regina Madore died in 1937 and her sister, Noella (Corriveau) Dussault, cared for Normand, his sister and his younger brother for a time.

At age 17, Normand volunteered for the U.S. Army Air Forces and served in Germany in World War II. He worked as an airplane hydraulic mechanic in the 92^nd Air Repair Squadron. He was awarded the World War II Victory Medal and the Army of Occupation Medal, according to his honorable discharge certificate.

Upon returning to New Hampshire in 1946, Normand earned his diploma from Keene High School. He attended Plymouth State Teachers College on the G.I. Bill, receiving a bachelor’s degree in education in 1951. While at Plymouth State, he met and married Alice Mary Danes, of Brightwaters, New York. They had a son in 1964, James, of Long Beach, New York. She predeceased Normand.

“My father always downplayed his military service, saying ‘I didn’t do anything special,’ ” recalled James. “But Dad volunteered instead of waiting to be drafted or to receive his high school diploma. His service provided him with a college education and a career that he loved dearly.”

Normand and Alice Madore taught elementary school students in Jefferson, New Hampshire, prior to Normand earning a master’s degree in education from Indiana University in 1953 and a doctorate in education from Wayne State University in 1962. He worked as a professor at universities in Texas and Iowa before joining Illinois State University’s College of Education in the early 1960s.

At ISU, Normand supervised student teachers and graduate students as well as teaching undergraduates. He also taught at universities in Thailand, and Dalian, China. He was a leader of the Illinois Education Association, a union representing 135,000 teachers, students and retirees.

Normand retired in the late 1980s to his home on Highland Lake in Stoddard. He had built the modified A-frame in 1970 with help from a farmer from Illinois. Normand spent many happy summers at the lake, where he used his 1988 Mercedes sports coupe to take scenic drives.

In retirement, Normand traveled extensively in Europe, New Zealand and the United States with his wife, Deniese R. Angelino, of Amherst, Virginia. She survives him.

Normand was predeceased by his parents, sisters Laurette Forest and Anita Miney, brothers Florian, Leo and Robert Madore, and sister-in-law Armande Madore.

Besides his wife and son, Normand’s survivors include cousins Claire Chouinard, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and her family, and Andrew Dussault and his wife, Gertrude, of St. Johnsbury, Vermont; nieces Lynne Forest Edson, of Fryeburg, Maine, Suzanne Forest Jones, of Gastonia, North Carolina, Denise Miney, of Santa Rosa, California, and their respective families, and his best friend John Antonelli, of Penacook, New Hampshire.

“I enjoyed my visits to Normand’s home in Stoddard during the summer and our regular telephone conversations,” said his cousin Chouinard. “He had varied interests and many stories from his travels. He always put the needs of others before his own and I will miss him.”

A Mass of Christian Burial with military honors will take place on June 21 at 11 a.m. in St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in St. Johnsbury, Vermont. Father Lance Harlow will officiate. Interment will be at the nearby Mount Calvary Cemetery, which is the final resting place of Normand’s mother. A reception will follow. Please RSVP to jtmadore@gmail.com.

The family expresses its gratitude to the following for their care of Normand in his final months and for supporting his son: the Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and its Jack Byrne Center for Palliative & Hospice Care; hospital chaplain Father Samuel Seyd; Home Healthcare, Hospice & Community Services; Comfort Keepers; Monadnock Acupuncture Center; the Law Offices of Pamela P. Little; the Hartford Insurance Co., and the Newsday family.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Normand’s memory to the Illinois State University Foundation, Campus Box 8000, Normal, IL 61790-8000. In the memo part of the check, please indicate that the donation is for the Dr. Normand Madore Endowed Scholarship. Scholarships will be awarded annually to undergraduate students who are pursuing degrees in education at ISU.

The Guibord-Pearsons & Sayles Funeral Homes have been entrusted with the arrangements in St. Johnsbury. The Fletcher Funeral Home had been entrusted with the arrangements in Keene, NH.