HOLDEN- Mahala W. Stiles, a lover of the creative arts, died quietly and peacefully on Wednesday, July 21, in the home of her daughter Cynthia Vasil-Barry with whom she had resided in her latter years, at 126 Stoneleigh Road, Holden, Massachusetts. Her final days were at home, as she and her family planned, where family members gave loving presence.
Mahala lived fully for her seventy-eight years, a participant in and a patron of the arts, visual and musical. She was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, daughter of Edna Irene Sweet and Romey Ival Sweet. She attended the former Commerce High School and, in her sixties, received her BA in Liberal Arts, cum laude, from Clark University, majoring in Russian History.
Surviving Mahala are four daughters and their husbands: Lynda R. Kauffroth-Fulps, husband Michael, of Red Oak, Texas; Pamela J. Derderian, husband Jordan J., of New London, New Hampshire; Karen T. Vasil-Busch, husband Stephen D., of Buckfield, Maine; and Cynthia A. Vasil-Barry, husband Brian P., of Holden, Massachusetts. She extended her love to eight grandchildren, one great-grandchild, and nephews and nieces. Surviving siblings are sisters Rodella Anne Hebert, of Westboro, Massachusetts, and Jacqueline (Heenan) Hayes, of Grafton, Massachusetts; and a brother, Redfield W. Sweet, of Marcellus, New York. A brother, Arthur W. Sweet, of Atlanta, Georgia, deceased earlier. Her first husband, Terry S. Vasil, died in July, 1998.
Mahala is remembered and respected by family and friends for her intellectual pursuits, balanced with warm personal qualities of gentleness and loving kindness. She was a student of history, supported the Boston Symphony Orchestra, was herself an accomplished pianist and organist, and for a time served as assistant organist and choir director in Old South Congregational Church, Worcester, Massachusetts. She was a member of the American Guild of Organists. Her choral work included the Post Road Chapter of the Sweet Adelines and, with her husband David Stiles whom she married in 1972, she sang with the madrigal singers A Goodlie Companye, with the Worcester Chorus, and with the Wesley Choir of Wesley United Methodist Church, Worcester, Massachusetts, where she was a member. David Stiles passed away in 1996.
Mahala Stiles served on the staff of Family Services of Central Massachusetts for some seventeen years, retiring in 1985 as co-director of the homemaker and home health aid programs. The FSCM is located on Harvard Street, Worcester.
The family plans no calling hours. A commitment service will be private at the convenience of the family, with the Nordgren Memorial Chapel, 300 Lincoln Street, Worcester, directing arrangements. A memorial service is planned for a later date.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Massachusetts Audubon Society, of which Mahala was a supporting member, at 208 South Great Road, Lincoln, MA 01773.