Patricia “Patty” Iva (Richardson) MacNeil passed away peacefully on the morning of June 23, 2022, at the age of 64.

Patty was born on Aug. 19, 1957, at the Memorial Hospital in Bath, Maine to Jim and Betty (Giles) Richardson. She grew up with her younger sister, Jami Ann, in West Bath next to the New Meadows River. Patty enjoyed a happy childhood that included frequent visits to family at Giles Place on Mill Cove in Boothbay Harbor. She graduated from Morse High School in 1975. A few years later, Patty met William “Bill” Michael MacNeil Sr. in Popham Beach, Maine. They married in May of 1982 and lived in Virginia for a few years before settling in Sanford, Maine, where they raised three children together.

Patty was actively engaged in her children’s upbringing and in community service, volunteering in the schools and helping to organize fundraisers and events. She served as a Girl Scout troop leader for eight years and as director of the Mousam Valley Girl Scout day camp for three summers. She helped plan Boy Scout events, served on the PTA, church committees, the high school band boosters, and the Sanford Soccer Association. She drove her children to countless sports practices, dance lessons, and music lessons, and insisted on scheduling three weeks every August for the family to go camping in Steep Falls, Maine. Patty particularly enjoyed making s’mores by the campfire, singing corny songs, and reading on the beach.

Beginning in 1996, Patty began her career as a receptionist and administrative assistant. She worked at Renaissance Greeting Cards in Sanford for 10 years, followed by one year at Murray, Plumb & Murray, a law firm in Portland, Maine, and four years at St. André Health Care in Biddeford, Maine. In 2011, Patty and Bill sold their home in Sanford and moved to Fort Myers, Florida. Patty worked as a receptionist at Kubicki Draper, a law firm in Fort Myers, from 2012 to 2021. She made numerous friends in the Jamaica Bay residential community and volunteered at Hope Hospice with her therapy dog Dolly, visiting patients and making them smile. In recent years, she enjoyed spending summers at Whispering Pines campground in Newton, New Hampshire, making frequent drives to Maine and Massachusetts to visit family and friends, especially her much beloved granddaughters.

Patty was a light in the dark to many. She was a superb listener, open and accepting and quick with a smile and a laugh. She was loving and friendly and unassuming, generous and helpful and kind. She was always up for a light-hearted adventure, happy to make fun of herself, and always building others up. A loving daughter, a faithful sister, a steadfast wife, a devoted mother and grandmother, and a trusty friend, she will be deeply missed by all.

She was predeceased by her parents.

Surviving loved ones include her husband, Bill; her children: William “Michael” MacNeil Jr. and fiancé Kadian Crawford of Miami, Florida; Jami E. MacNeil of Richmond, Maine; and Kristine L. (MacNeil) Reed and her husband Andy of Westford, Massachusetts; her sister, Jami A. Richardson Kelly and her husband John of Biddeford, Maine; grandchildren: Lydia Jane, Hattie Mae, and Ada Louise Reed of Westford, Massachusetts; several nieces and nephews, numerous cousins, and many, many dear friends.

Services will be held later in the summer or early fall. More information will be available at a later date. Patty will be laid to rest at Evergreen Cemetery in Boothbay, Maine.

In lieu of flowers the family welcomes donations in Patty’s memory to: Hope Hospice, 9470 HealthPark Circle, Fort Myers, FL 33908 (Donate.HopeHCS.org); or Girl Scouts of Maine, 138 Gannett Drive, South Portland, ME 04106 (girlscoutsofmaine.org).