SOUTH FREEPORT –

Louise Marie (Cardamone) Haddock of South Freeport, Maine, died from dementia on April 20, 2025, at her home, surrounded by family.

Louise was born May 15, 1948 in Portland, Maine, the eldest of Marie Anna and Michael Archangelo Cardamone’s five children. The Cardamone’s lived in a bustling, multigenerational tenement on Carleton Court (now Munjoy South) with her grandmother, Nonni, a formidable woman who spoke only Italian and brought Louise to twice-daily Catholic Mass. Louise was especially close with her own mother Marie, who called Louise her ‘right hand’ through many years of raising younger siblings.

In high school, Louise remembered being offered four gender-and-class-bound choices for her future: housewife, teacher, secretary or nurse. An admittedly terrible typist and wanting to try something new, Louise enrolled in the Mercy Hospital School of Nursing where, under the mentorship of Sister Mary Conseula, she found her professional calling and life’s work. She graduated from nursing school on a Sunday, starting working on Monday, and worked continuously and proudly as a nurse until her dementia diagnosis at age 70. She cherished working in operating rooms and emergency departments and was especially fond of her time at Bridgton Memorial Hospital, acquiring a catalogue of stories from the practice of rural medicine and forming lifelong friendships with colleagues Bobbi Cribby, Florence Door and Liz Mascia. As a mid-career nurse she held senior leadership positions with non-profit healthcare and social service organizations and was a fierce advocate for mental health parity. Louise eventually made her way back to direct patient care at Greater Portland Health, where she felt at home caring for New Mainers and mentoring new graduate nurses.

Throughout her life, Louise was passionate about education and often spoke about how nursing was a ladder from poverty to the kind of financial independence that was unavailable to older generations of women in her family. She was a champion of strong women and those who spoke truth to power, and had high expectations for herself and others. Louise’s serious side was balanced by her love of life’s simple pleasures: late afternoons at the ocean, the first two weeks of September, the sweet scent of perennial flowers, her zippy Saab convertible, and in an unexpected twist late in life, her family’s rescue hounds. 

Although professionally driven, Louise treasured family above all. She met Brian, her best friend and husband of nearly 55 years, in high school. They lived together, first in Bridgton and then South Freeport, in beautifully designed, unfinished homes. She would tell others, always with a wry smile, ‘never marry the carpenter.’ She cherished her time with Brian – enjoying rituals of dinners out, beach walks and special trips to South Andros in the Bahamas and England. Together, Louise and Brian raised two children, Joshua and Malia, who Louise described as her ‘best work.’ She was a devoted partner and mother, consummate worrier and the family’s fierce and loving matriarch.

Louise approached her dementia diagnosis with grace, wisdom and humor: ‘I’ll leave this world just how I came into it – confused.’ Throughout her illness, she expressed gratitude for her beautiful life with a family and career she adored, and savored all her favorite experiences – feeling the sun’s warmth, walking at Popham, embracing loved ones, giving Brian a hard time and enjoying delicious food – until her dementia fully progressed.

Anticipating her death, Louise asked that there not be a funeral and instead encouraged family to enjoy a sunny day at Popham Beach followed by fried clams at Five Islands in her honor.

Family, friends and colleagues are invited to share memories of Louise at mainefuneral.com.

The Haddock family extends genuine and heartfelt thanks to Hospice of Southern Maine and Friends In-Home Care for their compassionate and dignified end of life care.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to the Louise Haddock Scholarship Fund, created by Greater Portland Health in Louise’s honor to recognize her commitment to nursing education.

https://www.foundationforpps.org/what-we-do/scholarships/