Lorraine M. Santos, 69, of Dartmouth, died Thursday April 23, 2015, at home after a long period of failing health. She was the wife of Leonard A. Santos, Sr., they had been married for 48 years.
Lorraine was born in Fall River, the loving daughter of the late Armand J. and Corinne (St. Germaine) Belanger. She lived most of her life in North Dartmouth after being raised in New Bedford. She graduated from St. Anthony Parochial School in 1963 and from St. Anne's School of Nursing in Fall River in 1966.
She was a communicant of St. Mary's Church in South Dartmouth since 1993, where she had also been a Eucharistic Minister. She was active in the St. Mary's Ladies Guild and was secretary and chairperson of the Msgr. Considine Scholarship Fund for many years.
She worked at Lakeville Hospital for a short time and then worked at the New Bedford Jewish Convalescent Home until her retirement as Director of Nurses in January 1997.
Lorraine was very talented in many arts, having learned calligraphy, cake decorating, floral arranging, ceramics, wood painting and cooking. She loved visiting her out of state siblings with her husband and also loved their trips to New Hampshire, Florida and South Carolina, and Foxwoods and Twin Rivers casino. Her greatest interest and passion was being with her children and grandchildren at holidays, and baby-sitting. She always wanted to see her children and grandchildren together on holidays and she was the cook for most of the events at her home.
Her family would like to thank the entire staffs of St. Luke's Hospital, Sippican Healthcare Center, and Mass. General Hospital for the loving care and compassion shown to Lorraine during the last two challenging months of her life.
She leaves her loving husband; three sons, Leonard A. Santos, Jr. and his wife Patricia of Taunton, Michael R. Santos and his wife Marcelina of Dartmouth, and Dennis P. Santos and his wife Tina of Lakeville; a daughter, Cheryl A. Thompson and her husband Brian of Lakeville; two sisters, Yvette Wilson and her husband Steven of Reynoldsburg, OH, and Muriel Caron of Newport News, VA; a brother, Gerard Belanger of Palm Beach Gardens, FL; and nine grandchildren, Melanie, Amy, Jarod, Jacob, Brett, Nicholas, Samantha, Matthew and Joshua.
Her Funeral will be held on Monday at 9 AM from the Saunders-Dwyer Home for Funerals, 495 Park St., New Bedford, followed by her Funeral Mass at St. Mary's Church, Dartmouth at 10 AM. Burial will follow in Sacred Heart Cemetery. Visiting hours will be on Sunday from 3-7 PM. In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to Southcoast Visiting Nurse Association, 200 Mill Road, Fairhaven, MA 02719. For directions and guestbook, please visit www.saundersdwyer.com.