Ellen Louise LaFleche

NORTHAMPTON - Ellen LaFlèche, 72, passed away on January 23rd after a 7-year battle with Inflammatory Breast Cancer. Ellen is survived by her daughter, Céline Vienneau, her son-in-law, Jeremy Vienneau, and her two grandsons, Jackson and Zachary Vienneau, of Auburn, Massachusetts. Ellen is predeceased by her husband, John Clobridge, who passed away from ALS almost exactly 12 years ago. Ellen was born in Norwich, CT, to the late Lorraine (Beausoleil) Watts and late Armand LaFlèche. Ellen had one brother, Robert LaFlèche, Sr., who passed away in 2014.She is also survived by several nieces and nephews. Ellen graduated from Plainfield High School and received her bachelor’s in science at Boston University. Ellen was the first person in her family to go to college. Ellen was a passionate, spunky, and tenacious soul who did not have a shy bone in her body. She had a magnetic personality and loved to have deep conversations and enjoy the company of those around her.

Ellen was a writer and had several professions over the years: an editor at Hampshire College, a journalist and women's health educator in Western Massachusetts. She also had her own editing business for several decades. Her manuscript, Workers' Rites, won the Philbrick Poetry Award from the Providence Athenaeum and was published as a chapbook in 2011. Another chapbook, Ovarian, was published in 2011 by the Dallas Poets Community Press, and a third chapbook, Beatrice, about a semi-cloistered nun, was published in 2012 by Tiger's Eye Press. Her poems have been published in Spoon River Poetry Review, Hunger Mountain, New Millennium Writings, The Ledge, Alligator Juniper, Many Mountains Moving, Harpur Palate, Southeast Review, and Naugatuck River Review, among many others. Prose credits include her 2014 Daily Hampshire Gazette article "Taken too soon, at 65: My husband John Clobridge's final days with ALS". She also reviewed books for Wordgathering, the online journal of disability poetics. She has won the Ruth Stone Poetry Prize, the New Millennium Poetry Prize (shared with Jim Glenn Thatcher), the DASH Poetry Journal Prize, the Poets on Parnassus Prize for poetry about the medical experience, second prize in The Ledge Poetry Awards, and the Editor's Choice Award for Poetry from Writecorner Press. Ellen’s proudest professional accomplishment was publishing her poetry book, Walking into Lightning (Saddle Press, 2019). This book is described as “a remarkable book for the bereaved, unsentimental and undistracted, profoundly moving and cathartic.”

Ellen was incredibly creative and artistic, and her hobbies included reading, writing, crocheting, photography, making unique mosaic creations, upcycled jewelry, and custom collaged wall tiles. Ellen was a close friend to many in Northampton and leaves behind many wonderful friends and neighbors. She enjoyed going to thrift stores, yard sales, playing Wordle and Candy Crush, and watching her beloved Red Sox. She loved walking through downtown and supporting small businesses whenever possible, especially the restaurants. Ellen was raised Catholic but her church as a widow was the Forbes Library.

The greatest gifts in Ellen’s life were her brilliant mind and her family. Her grandsons, or “grand-muffins,” were her prized possessions, and she loved to brag about them and thrift for gifts for them. Ellen and Jackson always bonded over the Red Sox and art, and Ellen was infatuated with Zachary’s athleticism and charm. Ellen will be sorely missed, but is finally reunited with her husband, John. Ellen met John writing an article about him for the Amherst Bulletin. They were married shortly after on Valentine’s Day in 1985 and Céline was born exactly nine months later. Ellen described having Céline as the best moment of her life in her final lucid moments. Ellen considered her son-in-law, Jeremy, her own son. They had a unique closeness and Jeremy helped Ellen survive homeownership after John passed.

Ellen’s friends describe her writing and personality as: fierce, passionate, breathtaking, beautiful, spunky, feisty, and quirky. She wore Crocs before they were cool and dressed in funky socks and colorful flowy dresses daily, even on her sickest days.

Ellen’s family would like to thank Dr. Newsome and his oncology team at Cooley Dickinson for giving her many bonus years, as well as her “Chemo Crew” of friends who took turns driving Ellen to treatment and making lemonade out of lemons together in the hospital—loudly. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the family’s Meal Train. A Celebration of Life in Northampton will be scheduled at a date to be determined this spring. Please check Céline’s Facebook page for updates on the services. If you would like to share a memory about Ellen, please sign her Guest Book to keep her memory alive.