LAKEVILLE — Marie Anne Benvenuti Orrell, 87, said her goodbye on Nov. 4, 2024, after a brief illness. Marie was widely known for her kindness. If someone needed something, she would make it her mission to scout it out and was always ready to lend a hand.
Marie was the daughter of Emo and Lea (née Arsenault) Benvenuti of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. In high school she became a basketball player dubbed “Sequoia” due to her height. Her husband David knew she was the one for him the day she made him stop the car so that she could leap over a fence in a dress and heels to collect some hickory nuts. He recognized in her an irresistible spontaneity and sense of fun that she brought with her to everything she did.
Marie had a natural talent for music and taught herself to play accordion, banjo, guitar, dulcimer and even the spoons. She participated in local theater by working as the sound master. Always active, she was a frequent hiker on the Appalachian Trail and a skier and member of the ski patrol at Mohawk Mountain Ski Area in Cornwall. She rode and enjoyed horses and even mucked the stalls at Old Sturbridge Village, Massachusetts. She was creative and a talented knitter, most recently of innumerable pairs of socks for her family and friends. She was an avid reader and naturally curious on many subjects, particularly archeology.
Marie came to love the geography and people of Eastport after moving there in 1995 from Connecticut where she and David raised their family in the town of Cornwall then in Lakeville.She was not new to Eastport, and had been coming here to visit with David since they were married in 1962. She was a devout Catholic, a member of the Saint Kateri Tekakwitha Parish, and was proud of her French Canadian and Italian ancestry and her connections to the community of Sipayik and Pleasant Point. She learned many words and phrases from the elders of the Sipayik Community, learned to pick and braid sweetgrass, and took great joy in the craftsmanship of sweetgrass baskets.
A sports enthusiast, she was a loyal Red Sox and Patriots fan through thick and thin. Marie looked forward to meeting her many loving friends for coffee, a meal, or to play Rummikub or cards. She kept in touch with her elementary classmates and nuns from St. Joseph School and classmates from North Brookfield High School (class of 1955).
Most importantly, Marie was the beloved wife of the late David Orrell, she was the mother to Jim, Tom and Elizabeth, grandmother to James and Lea and mother-in-law to Jody and Laurie. She leaves behind many other family members and friends and will be deeply missed by all.
The family thanks all of her friends and those who provided health and pastoral care for their loving support and prayers.
Services will be announced at a later date.
In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to the Wolapen Center, care of Debbie Nicholas, Tribal Finance, 22 Bay View Drive, Pleasant Point, ME 04667.
