FRANCES THERESE GOMES LOUGHRAN – 82 years old, passed into the loving, perpetual embrace of her Lord Jesus Christ and Our Heavenly Father, as well those of her late parents George and Frances and her dear friends Claire, Lois, Pat, and Anne on Tuesday, November 27th, one day shy of her 83rd birthday.
Friends are cordially invited to celebrate her life with her family on Friday, November 30 at the Pelham Funeral Home (64 Lincoln Avenue) from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m., and pray together for her eternal rest at a funeral Mass at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 1 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church (575 Fowler Avenue) in Pelham Manor.
Born and raised on Narrows Avenue in Bay Ridge, she graduated with highest honors from Brooklyn's all-girls Fontbonne Hall in 1947, the College of Notre Dame of Staten Island (1951), and from Fordham University in 1952 with her M.S. in Psychology. A voracious reader, tenacious league bowler and fearsome debate opponent she will be remembered always by her family and closest friends for her iron will, keen intellect, strong opinions, quirky sense of humor and a unique, high-pitched laugh that high school friends once compared to ‘the tolling of a bell.'
She was a nearly lifelong resident of Pelham Manor and communicant of OLPH; and was a 51-year member of the Larchmont Shore Club, a place where she spent countless summertime hours enjoying the company of many of her closest friends. Featured in a March, 1972 Time magazine article about the rising number of American homemakers who entered the ranks of working professional women years after raising a family, she is survived by her "devoted husband" of 59 years, Thomas; her eight "dutiful" children (Frances, Thomas, Peter, Timothy, Maureen, Christopher, Michael and Daniel), and her 18 grandchildren (Maggie, Christine, Jacqueline, Shiona, Jessica, Kailey, Maria, Rosie, Daniel, Curtis, Brian, Shane, Dylan, Colin, Terrington, Kieran, Danny and Ryan. She is also survived by her brother George Gomes, her brother-in-law Patrick Loughran, her nephews Frank, Tony, Timmy and Johnny, and her nieces Sara and Joanne.
The Loughran family would like to express their deepest and most sincere thanks to the entire nursing staff at the Wartburg Adult Care Community in Mount Vernon, NY, for all the love, compassion and first-class care giving they provided to their mother these past few years; and also to all the doctors and nurses of the Hospice Care Team at the Sound Shore Medical Center for making her final days and hours as peaceful and as comfortable as possible.
To honor Frances' memory and provide educational assistance and emotional support to other families suffering from the profound impact of Alzheimer's disease on both victims and their caregivers donations --in lieu of flowers-- should be made in her name to the Alzheimer's Association of Westchester/Rockland/Hudson Valley, or through www.alz.org.
