LEBANON — Remembered as quiet and kind, Marie Doyle preferred living life in the background.
Even so, Doyle left a lasting impact on so many that was impossible to forget, her daughter, Alyssa Labare, said.
“She wasn’t loud or flashy,” Labare said in a eulogy at a graveside service for her mother earlier this month. “She didn’t demand the spotlight. But she was always there. Her strength was the quiet kind. Not the kind that calls attention to itself but the kind you notice when you realize you’re leaning on someone and they’ve been holding you up the whole time.”
Doyle’s Dartmouth College co-workers and friends remembered her quiet strength at a celebration of life, Labare said in a phone interview from her home in Milton, Vt.
“They all said the same thing, that she was just so kind all the time. I don’t think she realized how rare that kind of kindness is but we all did,” Labare said.
Known for her 43-year career in the athletic department of Dartmouth College, where she worked as an administrative assistant, primarily for men’s basketball, Doyle, 65, died June 23. Her death followed an 18-month battle against cancer.
Born Marie Plummer, Doyle was raised in Canaan by a single mother surrounded by a “big, close-knit family,” Labare said.
Valerie Dutille became friends with Doyle when they attended preschool in Canaan. They were field hockey teammates at Mascoma Valley Regional High School, drove to their first jobs together at JC Penney in West Lebanon and later worked at Dartmouth in different departments.
“I cannot express how wonderful Marie was, and I miss her everyday,” Dutille, who lives in Enfield, said in an email.
“She was humble and kind, a wonderful listener, someone that laughed at the same things that I did and a friend that I never argued with in over 60 years. That type of friendship is a treasure, and I feel it’s because of the special person Marie was.”
Over the years, they shared important milestones of life, such as marriage and children.
Doyle met her husband, Kevin, in 1983 and they were married three years later. He was struck, as others were, by her kindness from their first meeting and through their 39 years of marriage.
“I was a very lucky guy,” said Kevin, becoming emotional remembering his wife.
Doyle joined Dartmouth’s athletic department as an administrative assistant in 1979. She quickly earned a reputation for her attention to detail and dedicated approach to her duties.
She did everything from answering phones to taking coaches’ dictation for recruiting letters and thank you notes for donations.
“She developed a deep connection to the coaches, players and their families and Marie was loved by them all,” said former longtime co-worker Sheila Fifield, who lives in Claremont.
“She was so loyal and dedicated to her family, her friends and her coworkers. That was Marie,” Fifield said. “She was a friend to all.”
When David Faucher was hired at Dartmouth as assistant men’s basketball coach in 1984, he was unsure of a lot of things, but with Doyle’s help, he got his bearings. Beginning in 1984, he was an assistant coach for seven years and then spent 13 as head coach of the men’s basketball team.
“She was just so welcoming,” Faucher said. “Her niceness shone through, and I was lucky to have someone so understanding of someone who didn’t know what he was doing yet.”
In Faucher’s 20 years with the basketball program, Doyle was there every step of the way, he said.
“She went to all the games and knew all the players, and they loved her,” Faucher said. “When the players came to the office, they would always stop and see Marie because she was so welcoming.
“Marie was understated and so humble, but don’t underestimate her impact. The impact she had on my life, my family’s life and the Dartmouth’s men basketball program was incredible.”
When Rich Parker took the job as coach of the Dartmouth men’s golf team, Doyle served as his administrative assistant.
“She was so special and so dedicated,” Parker said. “Marie was one of a kind.”
Robbie Summers, a former Dartmouth basketball player and later an assistant coach, met Doyle in 1986.
“There is no shortage of superlatives to describe Marie,” Summers said in a phone interview from his home in Washington D.C. “She was the sweetest person you could ever know. It is still kind of raw that she is no longer with us.”
Summers recalled Doyle’s frequent kind gestures such as bringing in treats to the office. He spoke with Doyle a few times each year after he left Dartmouth in 1999.
“We would talk on the phone and make each other laugh,” Summers said.
Many of those who knew Doyle remained in contact with her even when their careers and lives took different paths, which doesn’t surprise Summers.
“It was hard not to want to be her friend once you met Marie,” he said. “Why would you not want to be around someone you could count on? Whatever she was able to do for you, she would do it.”
Doyle’s children, Alyssa and Brendan, said their mother, though working full-time, always put her family first and continued that with her grandchildren.
“I played a lot of AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) sports growing up,” Brendan said. “I can’t recall a game, even going back to Little League, when she wasn’t there. She was definitely dedicated to her family.”
Labare added: “She showed up for us every day, not just with grand gestures, but in a million small moments.”
Another way Doyle showed up for her friends and family was by sharing her talent as a craftswoman.
“A side of her that many people did not know and were always shocked to hear is that Marie was completely at ease and very comfortable using any and all power tools,” Fifield said. “She had multiple saws and every woodworking tool a person would need to build anything, and she used them all.”
Doyle could lay laminate flooring “like a professional” and build furniture, Fifield said.
“She was a (do-it-yourself) queen who helped my brother and I both do pretty substantial house renovations,” Labare said. “She and I both built my farmhouse dining table and wooden farmhouse-style bed — to name a few of her more recent projects.”
Brendan credited his mother for helping him with a lot of home improvement projects in Croydon.
“She was a big part of helping me, whether it was tiling floors or building a pantry,” he said, adding that his mother was self-taught.
Doyle’s generosity of spirit persisted through her cancer diagnosis and often painful treatment, Labare said.
“Never once was there any pity for herself and she never complained,” Brendan said. “She wanted to know how you were doing. She was so selfless.”
Patrick O’Grady can be reached at pogclmt@gmail.com.
