Obituary of Maureen Helen Saltis

Belchertown – Maureen H. (Russell) Saltis, 72, passed away at home with the love of her family surrounding her. Born August 15, 1950 In Northampton, she was the daughter of the late William Jr and Raphaela (Natale) Russell. Maureen grew up in Amherst and lived in Easthampton for 30 years before relocating to Belchertown in 2013. She was a teacher for 27 years with many of those years spent in the New Hingham Elementary School. She was a warm, kind, and loving woman of great strength. To Maureen “family was everything and everything was family.” She never missed an opportunity to spend time with her grandchildren, who lovingly called her “amma.” Whether that was attending sporting events to cheer them on, providing matching Christmas pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve or the highly popular birthday sleepover at amma and papa’s to name just a few. Maureen enjoyed spending time with many extended family members at annual family picnics which you could count on her bringing her famous goulash. She enjoyed special trips with her cherished cousins Liz and Karen. Her life was filled with many wonderful memories of family beach trips to New Hampshire. In later years, these beach trips grew to include each new grandchild. Maureen could always be seen taking pictures to capture all the precious moments. This picture taking turned into a love of scrapbooking. She created beautiful wedding scrapbooks for her children and annual birthday scrapbooks for her grandchildren. She was an avid reader and enjoyed sewing and knitting. Maureen’s love will remain with her husband of 50 years Robert Saltis, along with their three children Jeremy Saltis and his wife Cynthia of Foxboro, Jennifer Exware and her husband Steven Exware of Westfield, and Kelly O’Connell and her husband Sean of Belchertown. She also leaves her dear grandchildren to cherish her memory; Jacob, Charlotte, Aubrey, Caleb, Ella, Liam, and Brody along with siblings, William Russell of Amherst, Gerald Russell of South Carolina, Ann Streeter of Bernadston, and was predeceased by a sister, Carol Pratt. Visitation will be Thursday, November 17 from 5-7 p.m. at the Beers & Story Belchertown Funeral Home. A funeral Mass will be Friday, November 18 at 10 a.m. at St. Francis Church with burial to follow at Lake Vale Cemetery. Kindly meet directly at the church. For those wishing, donations may be made in her memory to Dana Farber Cancer Institute.