Tricia Asselin gave the best hugs, said her older sister, Bobbi Nichols.
“She hugged everybody, and they hugged her. If they didn’t come to her, she would go to them,” Nichols said.
Tricia Asselin Photo courtesy of Bobbi Nichols
Tricia worked part time at Just-in-Time Recreation, though she was at the bowling alley just for fun on the night of Oct. 25. Her sister, who was with her, said Tricia died trying to call 911 as others ran for their lives.
“She was a good person. It’s like, why her?” asked Nichols, of Auburn.
Tricia, who was 53, grew up in Auburn and Bowdoin, the second youngest of four children. She had two brothers, Jason and Mark Johnson, and is also survived by her mother, Alicia Lachance, and her son, Brandon Asselin.
She saw her son as her greatest achievement, her family wrote in her obituary.
Tricia grew up playing basketball, softball and baseball. She golfed and fished competitively. She enjoyed watching the Boston Bruins and Red Sox and playing trivia at sports bars, her sister said.
“She always was a sports girl, even from a young age,” Nichols said. “She loved sports and watched sports all the time.”
Tricia also was always busy. She worked three jobs: full time at Modula Inc. in Lewiston and part time at the bowling alley and the Apple Valley Golf Course.
“She would often tell you ‘sleep is overrated,’ and would rather spend her time doing the hobbies she enjoyed or working one of her many jobs,” the family said in her obituary.
Chad Hopkins, who was both Tricia’s friend and her boss for eight years at the golf course, said she was “a helper first and foremost,” always willing to jump in. “She just never stood still,” Hopkins said.
Tricia was always doing for others, her family said in the obituary. And she didn’t seek accolades.
“While we could go on and on about the type of person Trish was, she would tell us to keep it short and sweet as she never wanted the attention on her, so that is what we will do,” they wrote.
Sarah Proulx, a friend, described Tricia as “not like your average girl,” and said she raised thousands of dollars for research on breast cancer.
“She had the biggest heart I’ve ever met,” Proulx said.
She loved to organize leagues and tournaments at the golf course and at the bowling alley, said her sister. The night Tricia was killed, she had called Nichols up to sub for a player in the bowling league.
“It was a long night,” said Nichols, who made it out alive.
Tricia was never one for conflict, she said.
“My sister was the rock of the family. She was always a zero-drama girl. Whenever my brothers and I weren’t getting along, she was the person who would say, ‘It’s not worth it,’ and ‘Everything will be fine.’ She was always that way. Zero drama.”
Comments are not available on this story.
Send questions/comments to the editors.
