Obituary of Elsie A. Laidlaw

GOUVERNEUR – Elsie A. Laidlaw, age 88, formerly of Gouverneur, passed away on October 17, 2018 at the Carthage Center. There will be a celebration of her life on Saturday, October 27, 2018 from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the Community Center in Gouverneur. There will be a burial in Hailesboro Cemetery on Saturday, June 8, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. Arrangements are with French Funeral Home, Gouverneur. Condolences may be share online at www.frenchfuneralhomes.com. Elsie was born on October 17, 1930 in Gouverneur to the late Lawrence J. and Martha Mae (Rice) Laidlaw. She grew up on Rock Island Road until moving to the village as a teenager. She attended school in Gouverneur. At the age of fifteen, Elsie began working for J.J. Newberry's. She then worked in the kitchen of E.J. Noble Hospital, was head cashier and bookkeeper for the A & P Grocery store until it closed in 1975, and worked as a cashier for the Great American. Elsie retired in 1997 from New York Air Brake in Watertown as a machinist in the Dynapower and Stratapower division. Her survivors include her daughter, GiGi Y. Hayden and her partner, Michael Kerr of Oswegatchie; her sister, Genevieve "Jenny" Patton of Florida; and her grandchildren, Brandon M. Hayden and his fiancé, Elizabeth Scott, and Brady E. Hayden and his wife, Sarah. Above all else, Elsie loved to take care of other people. She was the ideal "neighborhood mom". She helped to take care of her niece, Leslie D. Miller, after her mother passed away. Her niece Kathleen Facey and her nephews, Joe and Steve Patton, and Darrell Miller, were always surrounded by her love. Elsie also fondly thought of her friend, Myrtle Belmore's sons as her own. Wayne, Warren, Weldon, Wendell, and William Belmore were a huge part of Elsie's life. Elsie is predeceased by her parents and her sister, Helena L. Cross Miller. Donation in memory of Elsie may be made to the Gouverneur Police Department or the Gouverneur Volunteer Fire Department. Both addresses are: 33 Clinton Street, Gouverneur NY 13642.