Norah Jean Maling, 91, passed away peacefully on Friday, April 24, at The Vicarage by the Sea dementia care center in Harpswell, Maine.
Norah was born on Oct. 3, 1934, in Kensington Gardens, London, England, to Hilda and Rex Horsfield, growing up on Cape Cod and later living in Bermuda during her teen years. Norah attended Gould Academy in Maine, graduating in 1952. After an early-career position in San Francisco, she attended Lasell University for two years before working as an administrative assistant at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She met her husband, George Maling, in 1960 at MIT while working in the President’s Office.
On Dec. 29, 1960, Norah and George were married in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They lived in Lincoln, Massachusetts, while George was finishing his doctorate and working at MIT. They birthed two daughters, Ellen and Barbara. In 1965, they moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, where their third child, Jeffrey, was born. Norah raised children and co-managed the Institute of Noise Control Engineering from their home while George worked at IBM.
After 35 years of work, travel, family and life in Poughkeepsie, Norah and George moved to Harpswell, Maine, in 2002. They enjoyed 20-plus years in Maine, in Harpswell and Brunswick, appreciating the proximity to Ellen and Barbara and family, as well as Norah’s sister Margaret. George passed away in 2022, but Norah continued to live independently and with spirit until she began to struggle with dementia in the last year of her life.
Norah was relentlessly forward-moving, approaching life with positivity and curiosity. She and George traveled the world for his career, which was always an adventure for which she was well prepared and thoroughly enjoyed. Norah managed a last family trip to beloved Hawaii at 90 years old, charming everyone she met with her verve and tales of Hawaii trips from the 1970s and beyond. She was a member of the Rotary Club in both Poughkeepsie and Brunswick, and enjoyed many community events and relationships. Norah took an avid interest in the lives of her grandchildren, and enjoyed traveling with them and watching them grow.
Norah is survived by her children, Ellen, Barbara and Jeffrey; and her grandchildren, Andrew, Ian, Cayen, Aamycia and Daniel.
Private services will be held in July in Brunswick.
Wishes to the family may be left at brackettfh.com.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Mid Coast Hunger Prevention Program.
