MIDDLEBURY — Mary Lou Holmes, 85, passed away on July 29, 2019 at St. Mary’s Hospital, Waterbury, after a brief illness. She was the wife of 40 years of the late John F. Holmes, who passed away in 2001.
Mrs. Holmes was born on Oct. 15, 1933 at St. Mary’s Hospital, daughter of the late Hon. Raymond and Loretta (Morris) Shea. She graduated from Sacred Heart High School, then earned her B.A. from St. Joseph College as well as master’s degrees from both Southern and Central Connecticut state universities.
Mrs. Holmes was a proud classroom teacher for many years in the Naugatuck school system, teaching at Salem and Central Avenue schools. She was a communicant of St. Francis Church during her youth and when she passed, and a long-time communicant of St. John of the Cross in Middlebury, where she served in many capacities, including trustee. She also was a dedicated volunteer for St. John the Evangelist School in Watertown. She became a Middlebury resident for a second time in 2008, moving from Watertown. Her Catholic faith and her family were central to her life.
Mrs. Holmes is survived by her daughter, Patricia Losure of Watertown and her husband, Victor, and granddaughter, Julie and her husband, Ryan, as well as her son, John Holmes of Middlebury and his wife, Sheila, and grandchildren, Jim, Eileen, Bob, Tom and Maura. Besides her parents, she is predeceased by her sister, Sr. Patricia Shea, R.S.M., and her children, Julia and Christopher.
Funeral services will be held on Thursday, August 1, 2019, with the funeral procession leaving the Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Naugatuck, 201 Meadow St., at 10:30 a.m. and proceeding to St. Francis of Assisi Church for a Mass of Christian Burial at 11 a.m. Burial will follow in St. James Cemetery. Visitation will be held on Thursday at the funeral home from 9:30 a.m. until the procession leaves for church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105, or to Middlebury Fire Department Ambulance, 65 Tucker Hill Road, Middlebury, CT 06762-2512.
For online condolences, visit www.fordfh.com.
