Canaan — The Mascoma Valley Regional High School community will hold a celebration of life on Thursday to commemorate associate principal JoAnne Ladd, who died on Saturday of complications from a stroke.

“In her years at Mascoma, Ms. Ladd touched the lives of many students, parents and staff,” Superintendent Patrick Andrew said in an email address to the district. “Our thoughts and prayers are with JoAnne’s family at this difficult time.”

Ladd, of Wilder, was employed by the district for eight years, and spent many of her days working alongside Principal James Collins.

Collins recalled his 45-year-old colleague as enthusiastic, supportive and someone passionate about advancing the school’s curriculum.

Ladd immersed herself in the Mascoma community. She chaperoned everything from class trips to proms and enjoyed rooting for the Royals’ football team every chance she could get. After all, she knew the game and was an avid fan of the Arkansas Razorbacks, Collins said.

“JoAnne’s sense of humor, her southern dialect — she would talk to people and always call them honey — she was quite the character in the positive sense of the word,” Collins said. “She was upbeat, she was happy, she was so supportive.”

He added: “She is also one of the most profound educators I have ever met.”

Ladd always put in the extra effort, Collins said, noting she would attend conferences to stay in tune with curriculum updates, and would stay late to help struggling seniors improve academically.

“She would work until 7 o’clock at night with people to get them on track to graduate,” Collins said. “She believed that every student could learn and every student could be successful.”

Reflected in that was Ladd’s push to integrate students with learning and behavioral issues back into mainstream classrooms from portable out buildings.

The “alt program” is now called the Center for Personalized Learning and those students attend regular classes, but visit the center for individualized help.

“They are now very inclusive in the student body and she was instrumental in organizing that,” Collins said.

Collins said Ladd had been out with knee surgery and was looking forward to a trip to Spain.

Mascoma officials had stood by Ladd last summer after she pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor shoplifting charge. Authorities said she left the Walmart in West Lebanon with about $70 worth of merchandise concealed in a shoulder bag.

Her attorney had said it was a misunderstanding, and that she had left the store with the items unpaid for inadvertently after waiting for a photo book to be produced.

Prior to working in Mascoma, Ladd also held positions in the Hartford and Windsor school systems.

Ladd’s family is in the process of setting up a scholarship fund in her name. In lieu of flowers, people wishing to donate to the JoAnne Ladd Memorial Scholarship fund can do so through Mascoma High School.

The celebration of life will be held at 6 p.m. on Thursday in the community auditorium.

Jordan Cuddemi can be reached at jcuddemi@vnews.com or 603-727-3248.