LACONIA ---- Ellen Alice McNutt, 88, passed away peacefully on Thursday, April 23, 2026, surrounded by loved ones, at Taylor Community, in Laconia, NH.
Ellen was born on April 13, 1938, in Somerville, MA, the daughter of the late Otis Henry Clark and Lydia (Leman) Clark and sister to Elineor and Janet.
Ellen lived such a beautiful, full life. She married her high school sweetheart at 17 and they immediately worked to build their incredible family. She always loved to say, “I had babies so that I didn’t have to work,” but the reality is that she worked harder than us all. She worked to create, grow, and nurture a big beautiful family where her love was at the center of it all.
She was a wonderful mother, sister, grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-great-grandmother to many. She was always the life of the party and defined “FOMO”… always making sure to keep tabs on every single family member, right down to her great-great-granddaughters. Her joy in this life was her beautiful family and taking pride in watching how it grew and flourished. Ellen also really loved to go shopping… for clothes, makeup, purses and especially home furnishings. Throughout her life she created the most beautiful homes… literally and metaphorically. Somehow, while raising this big family in her beautiful homes, she managed to maintain white carpets and baked daily. Ellen was “home” to so many and will so deeply be missed.
Ellen enjoyed music, dancing, and drinking dirty martinis. She loved to share these activities with all of those she loved and left everyone constantly amazed by how we could never keep up.
Ellen is survived by her children Brenda, Brian, Barry, Blair, Beth, and Bridget; twenty-three grandchildren; forty-one great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. Ellen lost her husband, Charles Richard McNutt, 26 years ago. In those years since, Ellen has displayed the most incredible resilience… continuously showing up for the family she loved and continuing to find ways to live her life to the fullest.
She spent many years in Florida, her favorite place to enjoy the sunshine, and found a beautiful companionship in her second husband, Gerald O’Neil, now since passed. In her final years, Ellen settled at Taylor Home in Laconia, NH where she could once again be in the center of the family she loved so.
She enjoyed frequent visits with her family and cultivated a beautiful community with her friends at Taylor and especially enjoyed time with her “girlfriends” (the incredible staff at Taylor who truly treated her as one of their own family members). She also never missed a hair appointment and found deep friendship in her hairdresser at Taylor who always kept her looking fabulous.
There will be no calling hours.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, May 23, 2026 at 4:30pm at 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford, NH.
In lieu of flowers the family ask that donations be made in Ellen’s name to St Jude’s Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services / 603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant St., Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit wilkinsonbeane.com.