Priscilla Diette Salem

December 22, 1930 — September 8, 2021

Priscilla Diette Salem passed away on September 8, 2021 at the age of 90 following a brief illness. She was born in Morrisville, Vermont on December 22, 1930; the eldest daughter of Beatrice and Ovide Diette. As a young girl she moved to Woodstock, Vermont where she attended school, graduating from Woodstock High School in 1948. She graduated from the University of Vermont in 1952 with a degree in education. Following graduation she moved to Bennington where she taught home economics at Bennington High School and remembered fondly the names of every student she taught. It was during this time that she met the love of her life, Charlie Salem.
Priscilla and Charlie married on August 16,1958 and moved to Bucks County Pennsylvania while Charlie attended dental school. While teaching high school in Langhorne, PA she received her master's degree in Bacteriology from Penn State University.
In 1962 they returned to Bennington, purchasing a home on Elm Street. The first floor was converted into a dental office and they lived upstairs. They built their home on Sharon Drive where they raised their four children. Priscilla was a devout Catholic, a member of Sacred Heart and later Sacred Heart Saint Francis churches. She raised her family in a strict French Catholic tradition with great intensity and joy. Her family was her greatest passion; she will forever guide her family as it's matriarch.
Priscilla loved tennis and her ladies doubles group. She was a master gardener and long time member of the Garden Club of America, serving a term as the local chapter president. She was a naturalist and took great joy in sharing her vast knowledge with others. She was a voracious reader and lifelong learner. She loved her studies in art history at Williams College and her greater than 25 years as a docent at the Clark Art Institute. She and Charlie traveled extensively. She was an excellent cook and baker as well as a skilled seamstress. She taught these skills to her children to be sure they could each be self sustaining.
Priscilla was a devoted wife and celebrated her 63rd wedding anniversary with Charlie just weeks prior to her death. She was an incredible mother to her children and grandmother to their children. She enjoyed the family's annual summer reunions at The Basin Harbor Club on Lake Champlain surrounded by all of her children and grandchildren. She instilled in all of them the value of family and the power of love. She leaves behind her husband Charlie; her four children Maria Ascher, her husband Tom and their sons Charlie and Jonathan; Charles Salem, his wife Sarah Dahl and their children Isaac, Olivia, and Emma; Justin Salem, his wife Christiana and their children Henry, Anna, and Nicholas; Elizabeth Foster, her husband Ben and their children William and Catherine; her brother Frederick Diette; many nieces and nephews. Priscilla was preceded in death by her parents; her brothers Bruce Dudley, Scott Dudley, and Philip Diette; and her sister Patricia Courtney.
A mass of Christian burial will take place at Sacred Heart Saint Francis Church on Saturday September 11,2021 at 10 o'clock.
Private committal services will be held at the convenience of the family.
Contributions can be made in her name to The Bennington Free Library or Bennington Bloom through the office of Mahar & Son Funeral Home, 628 Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201.
Guestbook condolences may be made at www.maharandsonfuneralhome.net

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Service Schedule

Past Services

Mass of Christian Burial

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Starts at 10:00 am (Eastern time)

Sacred Heart Saint Francis de Sales Church

238 West Main Street, Bennington, VT 05201

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Interment

Saturday, September 11, 2021

Park Lawn Cemetery

South Street, Bennington, VT 05201