Adele Frasse Mack passed away peacefully in her sleep at the Hospice of the Fisher Home, Amherst,MA on Tuesday, January 15, 2019. Adele was born in East Orange, NJ on March 18, 1931, where she shared a home with her parents, Elizabeth and Roland and younger sister, Rolly. The family arrived inWestport, CT. In 1939. Adele attended Staples High school and graduated from the Thomas School.
Adele graduated from Goucher College in Towson, MD, with a BA in English. She married Wade N.Mack in 1954 in Salzburg, Austria where they had Jefferson in 1955. In 1956, Adele and Wade relocated to Oxford, England, where they had their second child, Abigail. In 1957 the young family moved to Indiana, PA. where they had two more children, Rachel and David. In 1968, the family relocated to Saratoga Springs, NY.
Adele moved to Amherst, MA in 1974. Adele resided in Amherst for 45 years. Adele was a true pioneer of Yoga. She received her yoga teaching credentials and taught yoga from the ‘60’s through the ‘90s. The most important trip of Adele’s lifetime came in the ‘80’s when she visited Trivanarum Ashram in Kerala State, India. The trip helped to seal her fate and Adele became a devoted student of the practice of Yoga and meditation for the remainder of her life. Adele was a substitute English teacher in Saratoga Springs public school system and later became an early childhood teacher in Amherst, MA, with an assignment at the Wildwood School. She also devoted her early education skills to the Amherst preschool program, Hartsbrook Waldorf and Woodside Day Care at Amherst College; at each school Adele would eventually meet many of her future lifelong friends who meant so much to her.
Adele was an avid cloud watcher, a birdwatcher, a gardener and a voracious reader. Adele most notably loved to sew. She donated her spare time to the Hospice Shop of the Fisher Home on University Drive in Amherst, where she became the lead seamstress and was sought after for her sewing abilities by many friends.
The Hospice Shop of the Fisher Home was one of the highlights of Adele’s commitment to volunteering where she repaired many handmade quilts used in hospice to comfort patients. She helped sew costumes for the Valley Light Opera for a few seasons. She met John Muerle, late in life and had a very deep and meaningful relationship with him until his death in 2016. When John and Adele met each other, at the Wesley Church, they would say that they had found their “person” in life. A heartwarming story we hear many times when speaking about the pair.
Adele is survived by Jefferson, Abigail, Rachel and David; their spouses and grandchildren, Adele’s sister, Roland Power, her children and grandchildren. If you would like to donate in Adele’s name please consider the Hospice of The Fisher Home, Amherst, MA. Her cremation was entrusted to Williamsburg Funeral Home. A celebration of her life will be held in the springtime.
Details are forthcoming. Contact: mackr21@gmail.com.