| Ruth E. Bocko |
| 12/24/2020 |
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Ruth Eleanor (Boyce) Bocko, age 97, passed away on December 24, 2020, at Newton-Wellesley Hospital after a 10- day illness.
She was born in Swampscott, Massachusetts, on December 16, 1923, the last of five children of Mary (Gilmore) and Thomas Joseph Boyce. Mrs. Bocko graduated from Swampscott High School and Salem Teachers College, where she earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education in 1945. She took further studies at Middlesex Community College and Keene State College. Mrs. Bocko’s college years coincided with World War II. During those summers she assembled military aircraft instruments at General Electric in Lynn, Massachusetts. After graduating, she taught elementary school in Saugus and Swampscott, Massachusetts, and she taught again years later in Gorham, New Hampshire. Toward the end of her working days, she worked for Hawthorne College and then served on the staff of the American Red Cross in New Hampshire for more than 11 years. Mrs. Bocko and her husband Edward F. Bocko, Sr., had eight children, two daughters and six sons. Family meant everything to her. She volunteered as a Boy Scouts den mother and Girls Scouts leader for many years. She took comfort and joy from practicing her Catholic faith and enjoyed sharing time with family, camping, playing scrabble, gardening, reading mysteries, writing children’s stories, researching and recording family history, and faithfully cheering on the Red Sox, Patriots, Celtics, Bruins, and Liverpool F.C. Family members who predeceased her include brother and World War II fighter pilot Ralph in 1944, daughter Carol Sue in 1960, husband Edward in 1995, and son Edward, Jr., in 2008. She is survived by: daughter Patricia Thomas of Canton, Massachusetts, and five sons, Stephen of Ipswich, Massachusetts, Richard of Eugene, Oregon, Robert of Appleton, Maine, Philip of Mansfield, Massachusetts, and Paul of Bernardston, Massachusetts; 17 grandchildren; 11 great grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. A memorial service Mass limited to immediate family members will be celebrated at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church in Sharon, Massachusetts. There will be no calling hours. Her family plans to gather and celebrate her life in the summer or fall of 2021. In lieu of flowers, contributions can be made in memory of Mrs. Bocko to Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church or the American Red Cross. | |||||
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