J. 'Dixie' Beauchemin, 84
ADAMS, Mass. - Josephine "Dixie" Beauchemin, 84, of 1 Cedar Lane died on Thursday, May 31, 2012, at North Adams Regional Hospital.
Born in Adams on Dec. 10, 1927, a daughter of Joachim and Anna Cyrulik Dyka, she graduated from the former Adams High School with the class of 1945. She then attended St. Mary's School of Nursing in Brooklyn, N.Y., and became a registered nurse.
Mrs. Beauchemin retired as a nursing supervisor at North Adams Regional Hospital. Earlier, she had been as director of nursing for the former Plunkett Memorial Hospital until its closing.
She was a communicant of St. Mary of the Assumption Church in Cheshire. She was actively involved in her class reunions, was past president and secretary of the Adams Senior Citizens. She also was a member of the Ladies of St. Anne, the Adams Historical Society, the Massachusetts Nursing Association and had been part of a Nurses Health Study through Harvard Medical School for 50 years.
Mrs. Beauchemin was a devoted mother and dedicated her life to helping everyone and making a difference in people's lives. She enjoyed bowling, traveling, bingo, reading, knitting, sewing, camping and spending time with her family.
Her husband, Bernard T. Beauchemin, whom she married on July 26, 1952, died on April 14, 2008.
She leaves a son, Bernard T. Beauchemin Jr. and his wife, Patricia, of Seekonk; four daughters, Kim Collamore and her husband, Philip, of Kent, Wash., Margaret "Peg" Brown of Adams, Lynn Taft and her husband, Lawrence, of North Adams and Terri Melville and her husband, Eugene "Mitty," of Pownal, Vt.; eight grandchildren, Michael and Molly Beauchemin, Sarah Molinari, Jacqueline Brown, Lauren Fleury, Jenna Taft and Lindsey and Jacob Melville; a great-grandson, Gavin Fleury, and many nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by two brothers, Joseph and Chester Dyka and by three Sisters, Genevieve Dyka, Sophie Gancarz and Monica Kalisz.
FUNERAL NOTICE - The funeral for Mrs. Beauchemin will be Saturday, June 2, at 11:30 a.m. from Paciorek Funeral Home, 13 Hoosac St., followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial celebrated at noon in St. Mary of the Assumption Church, Cheshire, by the Rev. David R. Raymond, pastor. Burial will follow in Bellevue Cemetery, Adams.
Calling hours will be Saturday from 10 until 11:30 a.m. at the funeral home. Memorial donations may be made to St. Mary of the Assumption Church through the funeral home.