Lorna T. McGrory

Lorna T. McGrory was born on November 9, 1928 in St. John, New Brunswick, Canada to Daniel Malloy and Mary-Elizabeth (née Flood) Malloy and passed away peacefully in The Renaissance at the Terraces in Bonita Springs, FL on February 23, 2018. Lorna was baptized at St. Rose of Lima Church in St. John. Prior to marriage, she was a professional couturiere with her mother. In 1947, she met her future husband, John J McGrory of Belmont, MA. They were married on June 14, 1952 at St. Rose of Lima Church. After their marriage they took residence in Massachusetts, followed by a move to Kennebunkport, ME and finally retired in Naples, FL before moving to The Terraces in Bonita Springs, FL. Lorna is survived by her husband of 65 years; four children, John G McGrory of Fort Myers, FL, Lorna M. “Molly” Anton married to Randy Anton of Naples, FL, Daniel P. McGrory of Fort Myers, FL, and Kathleen M. “Kate” Foran of Naples, FL; five grandchildren, Wil A Lefebvre of Naples, FL, Rose Mary-Elizabeth (Foran) Brown, married to Nicholos J. Brown both of Auburn, ME, Kelsey D. (McGrory) Medina, married to Jorge L Medina, both of Fort Myers, FL, Jordyn L. McGrory of Fort Myers, FL and Emily S. Anton of Naples, FL; four great grandchildren, Aiden M Lefebvre of Naples, FL, and Marco L., Milo O. and Maddox L. Medina of Fort Myers, FL; as well as Lorna's younger sister, Elizabeth (Malloy) LaBelle of Sonoma, California. There will be two viewings open to the public from 2-4pm and 6-8pm on February 27, 2018, to be held at Shikany's Bonita Funeral Home located at 28300 Tamiami Tr. S. Bonita Springs, FL 34134. A Mass of Christian Burial, also open to the public, will be celebrated on February 28, 2018 at 2;00 p.m. at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church, 625 111th Ave N. Naples, Florida 34108. In lieu of flowers the family requests that donations please be made in Lorna McGrory's name payable to Community Pregnancy Clinics at 940 5th Ave. N., Naples, FL 34102, where she volunteered for 22 years. The family would like to thank so many of the staff at The Renaissance, Hope Hospice's nurse Julie and Comfort Keepers, especially Tianna and Stacee for their compassion and love towards Lorna and her family during this difficult time. Arrangements are being handled by Shikany’s Bonita Funeral Home. Please see biography below: LORNA THERESA MALLOY BIOGRPHY written by her loving husband. Born November 9, 1928 at St. Joseph's Hospital, St. John , New Brunswick, Canada to Mary Elizabeth (Flood) Malloy and Daniel Francis Malloy. Lived in Fairville (now incorporated into the City of St. John), a city famous for the Reversing Falls as the Saint John river enters into the Harbor, also known for its twenty-eight foot tide. Baptized at St. Rose of Lima Parish in Fairville. Her sister Elizabeth was born in August of 1932. Mom attended Saint Rose's Grammar School and was confirmed at St. Rose of Lima Church. She then attended New Brunswick High School. Dan Malloy owned and was a very respected barber and “Lil” as, Mom's mother was known (Mary-Elizabeth), was a very successful couturier. Mom was her partner for many years, together they created her own wedding dress and her bridesmaids' dresses. (Footnote-when Nanny passed away at the age of ninety and having lived with us for eighteen years, five years in California then another two years with us on Marco, at her one night wake in St. John, more than three hundred attended. Most of them were women that Nanny had made their dresses for weddings and other functions). I met Mom when I was seventeen and entered into a long distance courtship. Myself living in Belmont, MA and then Concord, NH, and Mom still living in Canada, claims that she kept count of the total days spent together spread over the next five year leading up to our engagement which was one year before our marriage. This came to a total of forty-eight days. Charlie Jepsen, my best man and I used to drive over from Concord, NH, one day on the road, one day there, and again, one day on the road back. True love. As you know, we were married on June 14, 1952 in St. Rose of Lima Church. The church still stands to this day. Shortly after returning from Canada, we moved into our new home in Lexington at 2 Great Rock Rd. It was there that your Mom's talents with decorating, gardening and all of her other abilities began to flourish. Our first living room furniture was a used set we bought from Mr. Kimball, the owner of the grocery store named Kimball's Market in Belmont that we first shopped at. The furniture was alright, but after your mother slip covered them they were right out of “HG”. After our marriage your Mom applied to begin her road to U.S. Citizenship. Five years later she became a citizen at the Boston Federal Court House. Howie and Pat Larrabee attended and we celebrated a very special lunch at a wonderful restaurant on Bromfield Street. With the new home and a mortgage payment of $90.90 per month, we realized that my $75.00 a week salary was not going to make it. Your mother applied and was promptly hired at Cronin's Department Store in Waltham for the Bridal Department where she worked for almost two years. Then Bumpa (my father) talked her into working for Belmont Springs. The office was, at that time in the basement of Kent Street. We were only married six months when in January we received word that your mother's father passed away. We did not have a telephone at that time so word had to come through Bumpa. It required a very sad and difficult trip to St. John. Bumpa and Nanna Rose drove us up for the funeral. Because it was a very deep and cold winter the internment was almost delayed because of the depth of the frost in the ground. Fortunately, the burial was accomplished. We returned to Belmont. Nanny came to visit us later that winter, due to the absence of Lorna's sister Bett who moved to Montreal for a job just one week after their father's funeral. A year later Nanny had surgery and suffered a blood clot that passed through her heart. Mom made an emergency trip to St. John and spent about a week there until Lil had passed the critical stages. We did not have a phone for eight months, we only had one car during this time so I drove and picked up Mom to and from work. We acquired our first television in time for John as we found out from a letter that arrived with him that he loved TV and it would settle him down if he got fussy. Mom's job ended with John's arrival in February of 1956. He was blessed at Sacred Heart Church, Lexington, having already been baptized at his birth. We had also started taking in boarders, again to assist with expenses. Our first two were Jim Cross and Frank Anderton, U.S. Air force pilots from the Air force Base in Bedford. It was not long in addition to working a full time job that she felt sorry for these hungry men and now decided it was also her Christian duty to see that they had at least one good meal every day. They became our nightly dinner guests and being the gentlemen they were insisted on covering the cost of meals. These friendships lasted for several years. We even helped Frank with his conversion to the Catholic faith. We also helped Jim, who was going to divorce his wife Judy who was going through some serious post natal mental problems to hold off. He did, and within the year she was able to join him with their child, a little girl. (a post script-I visited the Crosses several years later in Zenia, Ohio where he was stationed at that time. He said to me, with a great big grin, see the trouble you caused me. They now had six children.) Mom became the world's greatest spouse, mother, neighbor, cook, decorator, furniture re-finisher, seamstress, making most of her own wardrobe and many of your outfits especially for the girls. She also did some tailoring for John, Dan and Dad, and she became a very knowledgeable botanist. In addition to making all of our drapes for our home she did Nanna Rose's drapes for Kent Street. Unless you are a seamstress you cannot appreciate the work required in making draperies. After a happy six years in Lexington, we moved to 27 Stella Road in Belmont. We chose that location so our children could attend a Catholic parochial school, which was associated with St. Joseph's Parish. Molly arrived shortly after our move. Again, we had Molly blessed at our new church followed by Dan and Kate. As the years progressed you all entered into the Belmont Public school system. Mom's mother moved in with us and we made her a private space with the creation of an English Style room. Which included a sleeping, sitting and tea table eating area, and a door opening out onto the oriental garden which I built for her. Between Belmont and Maine Nanny spent eighteen years with us until she left for California. We did much entertaining while in Belmont, both personal friends and business associates alike. Again you all know what a wonderful hostess your mother was. Sometimes we would have as many as fifty guests at a time. Mom never got ruffled and would put on a dessert spread that the Ritz Carlton would have been proud of and this was all home made. While living at Stella Road we did three trips to Italy and Spain with our neighbors and then two trips to Ireland all as a family (this included Lil). ABWA the bottled water association took us on several trips to many industry related conventions and board meetings. Mom was always the center of attention at these functions due to her warm and wonderful personality, as well as her openness to listening to others. This brought us many life-long friendships, only losing them by their passing. During the Christmas Holiday season, Nanna Rose took ill and was bedridden from her stroke. Mom would cook our dinner at home then transport dinner and the family to Kent Street where we would have dinner with them. My memory is blank as to how long that went on, but I know it lasted for many weeks. (Side note – these home cooked meals included breakfast after the kids had left for school, because my father could not even boil water. His culinary skills were seriously lacking). It was only later after this period of her being bedridden while Bumpa was arranging with the doctors to send Nanna Rose to a nursing home, I happened to arrive during this discussion. I went in to see my mother who was in tears. I told her that as long as she was in bed there was nothing I could do, but if she could find the strength to get herself out of bed I guaranteed that she would never be sent to a nursing home. I went back out to the living room, when all of a sudden there was a bumping sound coming from the hall. That next moment Nanna Rose stumbled into the living room, sat sown in her chair and announced that she was going no where. Eventually, Bumpa was able to get a live-in housekeeper. This, along with Nana Rose no longer being bedridden relieved Mom from all of that double housekeeping. Nanna Rose never did go to a nursing home as promised. If it hadn't been for your mother it would have been a different story. We rented a house for a month on Goose Rocks Beach and fell in love with the beach and Kennebunkport. This led us to buying property and building a home. This was intended to be a summer home. I was now the owner and president of Belmont Springs Water Company. I was presented with an offer of the purchase of Belmont Springs (and with the water industry rapidly changing from family owned businesses to corporately owned businesses the offer presented was too good to turn down). We sold our property in Belmont. This also led to my buying the old house in the Port, remodeling it and now we had the Village Quay. We established three rental shops and an apartment above. During this time an investment of a condominium came due in Marco Island, FL. We traveled down to finalize and furnish the apartment and set it up to be uses as a rental property. While in Florida we discovered The Mole Hole and learned that they offered franchising. We also found that our shop tenants never paid their rent, this led us to converting all 3 units into a Mole Hole. Mom proved to be a great sales person having a wonderful way with the customers. The Mole Hole became the first stop that tourists would make, even before going to their vacation properties. They would discuss all of the happenings since their visit the previous year. Your mother was a most patient listener. The time came after many years in Kennebunkport to sell our beach home, and we moved into the apartment over the store. Your mother did a remarkable job at developing an oriental style kitchen but never got a chance to complete it, as the property sold shortly after moving in. This opened the door for our move to Florida. Our friends in Maine were numerable, and memorable. The most notable was Frank and Mary Handlen. We took permanent residence, first on Marco Island, a beautiful condo in the Duchess. Mom became very active in San Marco Church, the ladies guild. She joined a doll making class and created some incredible dolls. The piece de resistance was a baby with its antique baby carriage. She donated it to the church to be raffled off and it brought in a substantial sum. During our time on Marco, Nanny requested to leave California and live with us. She loved it for the first six months, but then her illness (Geriatric Leukemia) began to take its toll. Mom became a full time care taker, which was very demanding but she never complained. It was around this time that we became involved in Cursillo, which is a deep spiritual weekend retreat. I was able to attend my Cursillo weekend, but Mom delayed her's until autumn because of her mother. Finally, we were able to make arrangements to have Nanny cared for over a weekend, so Mom would be able to attend. Nanny's health began to rapidly deteriorate and she passed away shortly after your Mom's Cursillo retreat. John happened to return home on leave from Germany. After the wake and memorial mass we decided to wait a month to make the arrangements to have Nanny returned to her home in St. John, fulfilling her wishes to be laid to rest in the family plot. Again as you know your mother handled the loss of her mother with great dignity both in Florida and then a month later in St. John. As stated earlier more than three hundred attended the wake and your mother remembered each and everyone of them, and showed incredible patience with all, an exhausting task. After returning back home to Florida she was able to became more deeply involved in the Cursillo movement, working several weekends as a team member. She also became involved with the Pro-life movement. This led her to be a volunteer at the Emergency Life Clinic, which eventually became the Community Pregnancy Clinics Inc. She did this for twenty-two years and was one of the longest serving volunteers. Because of her charitable heart she also got us involved in Meals on Wheels. Reluctantly, we left Marco Island and moved to Quail Creek Village. Due to the challenges of decorating a new home, your mother's elegant abilities resurfaced. I do not need to tell you how beautiful our home was at Quail Creek. Now, with the move we became involved with a brand new parish, St. John the Evangelist. We continued going to daily mass which we had done all the time we lived on Marco. While at Quail Creek Molly advised us that she was planning to marry Randy Anton. She came to Naples, but because the time did not allow your mother to make Molly her dress, we found a beautiful wedding gown (As a side note, Mom was able to make Maura Kimball's dress even with her living in Maine. Very professional.) With the rest of the fabric that was purchased for the wedding, Molly returned to Kansas and a seamstress there made the bridesmaids dresses. We then flew to California and with Bett's assistance the bridesmaids' bouquets were made. From there, we flew to Kansas for the wedding. With the wedding behind us we flew back to California. However, before leaving Sonoma for home, Mom suffered a massive bleeding resulting in an emergency surgery. As she was not allowed to travel during this time, I flew back and forth during those two and half months. Luckily, an excellent surgeon allowed your mother to return home in perfect health. After ten years, many guests, and joyous holiday events in a home filled with family we made the decision, (or better yet our sore knees decided “I don't want any more stairs to a second floor”) to move and we found your mother's dream home. She had always loved the court yard concept, and we found the ultimate in a court yard home at Grand Isle in Pelican Marsh. We had barely moved in when we traveled to California, this was a planned trip to visit your Aunt Bett which had not allowed your Mother the time to make our new house feel like a home. We were not there more than two days when we went to one of the largest fabric stores in the country this is where she bought all the fabric for the drapes, for the dinning room and kitchen chairs and for some new additions to her wardrobe. Once we arrived back home the sewing machine didn't stop for weeks, only interrupted to create the Halloween costumes for the grandchildren, an annual event going all the way back to Stella Rd. I don't believe I need to jog your memories about the incredible outfits you had for all kinds of events. We continued our activities with Cursillos and Pro Life. But the most precious moments for Grammy was the time spent with the grandchildren and most recently with the great-grandchildren. She and I both believe these are gifts from God and we feel so blessed. Until her final day she could not walk past a little one without stopping to comment. Our last move after fourteen years at Grand Isle was to the Terraces of Bonita Springs, an all-care facility. We sincerely believe that it was through God's direction that we chose this beautiful residence. We had looked at almost all that was available and chose the one that was not even in the ground. And now when you see and experience living here we knew it was divine providence. My last comment to add to your Mother's biography is that other than being the world's greatest spouse, mother, neighbor, cook, decorator, furniture re-finisher, seamstress, a very knowledgeable botanist, her most notable attribute is simply this, she is a Saint. I say this in complete sincerity and my final advice to all of my children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, is after she has left for her eternal life is that if you have problems that need prayer, please pray to your Mom, Grammy, and Great-Grammy (a Saintly Trinity). You will have a loving voice to bring your needs to the Lord. God bless, DAD Closing note-there is no way I could include all the wonderful things she did for almost everyone she knew from our closest friends to the most casual of acquaintance that was in need. A SAINT IS ONE WHO PLACES THE NEEDS OF OTHERS BEFORE THEIR OWN. THAT BEST DESCRIBES MOTHER

Lorna T. McGrory

November 9, 1928 - February 23, 2018