Mary Louise Dufault, 85, Attorney and Adventurous Spirit with a Zeal for Music, Travel & the Theater of Life.

On October 16, 2022, Mary Louise Dufault, a longtime New London, NH attorney and resident, peacefully passed away with her family at her side. She was 85. Mary Lou, as she was known, was born on Mother's Day, May 9, 1937, in Clarion, Pennsylvania to Mary Elizabeth Meisinger and Ambrose John Selker. The eldest of her two siblings, Ambrose Paul Selker and Thomas Michael Selker, Mary Lou helped her mother, a bank secretary, raise her family after her father's untimely passing in July of 1947.

In 1955, Mary Lou graduated from the Immaculate Conception School in Clarion before attending Indiana State Teachers College where she earned a BS in Home Economics in 1959. Upon her graduation, Mary Lou taught Home Economics for two years at a middle school in Carlisle, PA where she met her eventual husband, Larry Bernard Dufault, who was serving nearby at the United States Army War College. Hungry for more education and learning opportunities, Mary Lou attended Pennsylvania State University where she earned a Master of Science in Clothing and Textiles in 1962.

Mary Lou and Larry were happily joined in marriage on June 22, 1963, in Clarion. After getting married, Mary Lou became a professor at Juniata College in Huntingdon, PA where she taught classes in clothing and costume design for 8 years. Mary Lou later earned a second Master's Degree, in Medieval Literature, at the University of Connecticut in 1973.

In August of 1973, Mary Lou and her husband moved to New London where they both taught at Colby-Sawyer College. After teaching at Colby-Sawyer for three years, Mary Lou decided to attend Law School at Franklin Pierce School of Law from which she earned her Juris Doctorate in 1980. Mary Lou enjoyed law school so much, she convinced her husband to attend a year after she started. Upon graduating from Franklin Pierce, Mary Lou established the Law Office of Mary Lou Dufault, which she operated out of her home in New London. Upon her husband's graduation from Law School, Mary Lou and Larry formed the Dufault & Dufault Law Offices, which eventually operated, for many years, at the historic New London Grange.

Mary Lou was an active member of the New London community. She served for three years on the New London Budget Committee and was a member of the League of Women Voters, the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust, the Garden Club, the Lake Sunapee Wine Society, and the Lake Sunapee Yacht Club. Mary Lou was an avid fan of music, especially jazz, and played piano daily. Her favorite musicians, among many, were Bill Evans, Ahmad Jamal, and Errol Garner. Mary Lou had an adventurous passion for travel, which germinated from a 1965 trip with her husband to Cairo, Egypt to see the pyramids. Over the years, her extensive travels took Mary Lou to Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, including a recent trip to Switzerland, France, Germany, and the Netherlands in June of this year. Mary Lou also loved sailing, tennis, gardening, baking, attending theatre, and, in particular, skiing. Never one to say "no" to a challenge, Mary Lou took her last ski run, in January of this year, at Bretton Woods with her husband, son, and one of her granddaughters.

Mary Lou is survived by her husband, Larry, her son, Michael Sean Dufault, his wife Tantra Oo and daughters Ina and Bianca who reside in Basel, Switzerland, and her daughter, Jaqueline Mara Dufault, her husband Alain Charest and daughters Alycia and Ophelia who live in Lexington, MA.

A public service for Mary Lou was held at 11 AM, October 24, at St. Andrews Church in New London.

Services will be held at the Immaculate Conception Mausoleum in Clarion, Pa at 10:00am. Burial will follow at the cemetery alongside her mother and father on October 27, 2022. Local arrangements are entrusted to the Goble Funeral Home in Clarion.

Any donations in memoriam, at Mary Lou's request, may be made to the Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust at www.ausbonsargent.org/donate.

Friends and family may send online condolences, order flowers and memorials, and obtain additional information by visiting www.goblefh.net.