Irene passed away peacefully at Mount Carmel Care Center on October 24, 2025. A lifelong resident of West Stockbridge, she was born July 21, 1928, in the family home, daughter of Francesco Saviero and Rose Marie Bruno Baldasarre. She was a graduate of Williams High School in Stockbridge the class of 1946. She married her husband Edward T. Norton on September 3, 1951, at St. Patrick’s Church in West Stockbridge. After raising four children, she worked for many years as a teacher’s aide at the Village School in West Stockbridge for the kindergarten class of Lorraine D’Aniello, a job she truly loved. Irene also worked registering voters and on the census for the Town of West Stockbridge. She was a member of the Council on Aging and worked at the polls for both town and national elections. She was a member of St. Patrick’s Solidarity and Prayer Groups as well as a communicant of St. Patrick’s Church in West Stockbridge. She loved to cook for family and friends and was proud of her Italian heritage. She was an avid reader and a regular at the West Stockbridge Library.
Irene was predeceased by her brothers Joseph, The Reverend William J., Ernest C., and George V. Baldasarre and sisters Ann Bristol, Theresa Pons, and Rosemary Maslowski O’Connor. Another brother, Francis S. Baldasarre, was killed in 1943 in the Pacific during World War II. She was also predeceased by her son Kevin in 1978, her husband Edward in 1991, and grandson Garrett in 2015. She leaves three sons, Thomas Norton his wife Beth, Michael Norton his wife Justina both of Housatonic, and Matthew Norton and his wife Dianna of West Stockbridge, and four grandchildren, Leanne Frye and husband Steven, Shawna Norton and husband Thomas Ferguson, and Kevin Norton and wife Paige, and Aaron Norton. She leaves two great grandchildren, Edward and Adalynn Fyre. Also, several nieces and nephews.
A Funeral Mass for Irene Baldasarre Norton will be held on Thursday November 6 at 10:00 AM with a Liturgy of Christian Burial at Saint Patrick’s Church in West Stockbridge. Burial will follow in Saint Patrick’s Cemetery. Family will receive friends on Thursday, November 6, from 9:00 AM to 9:45 AM at Saint Patrick’s Church in West Stockbridge. In lieu of flowers expressions of sympathy in Irene’s memory can be made to West Stockbridge Public Library or Garrett Norton Memorial Scholarship Fund in care of the BIRCHES-ROY FUNERAL HOME, 33 South Street, Great Barrington, MA 01230. Condolences may be made through birchesroyfuneralservices.com.
