Elaine Marie Coakley (Harwood) Lloyd passed away on Friday evening, July 19, 2013, at the Sawtelle Family Hospice House in Reading, Massachusetts, with her family at her side. A life-long resident of Woburn and graduate of the Class of 1961, she had just celebrated her 69th birthday at home at the end of June and demonstrated a fierce sense of purpose and vitality since her cancer of unknown primary (CUP) diagnosis last August.
Daughter of the late Roy J. and Helen E. (Bovaird) Coakley, Elaine grew up with her beloved and favorite brother Jerry at 19 Beach Street in Central Square and attended the Wyman School. She moved to Chestnut Street in Hammond Square in 1972, where she lived for the last 41 years and raised her three girls. She loved to entertain in her home and especially loved sitting on her front porch with family and friends or reading a good book. She was an avid reader and loved music of many kinds, especially country.
She began her career when she started her work life at Johnson & Johnson, Attorneys at Law. From there she worked successfully for key industry-leading companies including Hewlett-Packard, The MITRE Corporation, and Romicon/Rohm and Haas in Cummings Park, then in Wilmington at Koch Membrane Systems and eventually DSM NeoResins, where she retired in 2010 as an HR Specialist. She was an accomplished and sought-after speaker, facilitator, and communications trainer in both her professional life and volunteer work.
Elaine loved her community and was a member of the Woburn Historical Society since 2006, a Heart Fund Volunteer since 1985, and loved volunteer service with the Lions. She was a Charter Member in 1988 of the Woburn Middlesex Lions and a Past President in 1997-98. She served in numerous leadership roles for many years both on the club, district and state level. She was most proud of being a Melvin Jones Fellow, the highest honor in Lionism, awarded by her club, the Charles L. Schepens Lifetime in Lionism Achievement Award by which she was deeply humbled, and receiving the International President's Leadership Medal Award for outstanding efforts in leadership training and development for the Lions of New England.
She loved photography and enjoyed sharing her photos with her family and friends, who were her greatest joy in life. Her granddaughter, Bella, was the love of her life along with her own daughters. She had a genuine love of people and truly loved spending time with her family and friends. She loved to bake and would bake hundreds of cookies during the holidays for her family and friends.
She is survived by her three daughters, Tracey A. Harwood Ciriello of Laconia, NH, Cheryl L. Harwood Bell and her husband John of Malden, and Amy M. Lloyd Wilson and her husband, Alberto Wilson of Arlington, VA. She was the proud Grandmother of Isabella A. Ciriello. She is further survived by her beloved brother, John "Jerry" Coakley and predeceased by her dear sister-in-law, his wife, Peggy, and their children who were so special to her: her nieces, Diane Sandner and her partner Randy Lariviere of Haverhill, MA, Colleen Yergens and her husband Greg of Ft. Myers, FL, Alicia Coakley of Ft. Myers, FL, and her nephew Shawn Coakley and his wife Martha of Ft. Myers, FL; and by her very special grandnieces and grandnephews: Allison, Tanner, and Tyler Yergens, Kyle Sandner, and Caitlyn, Aidan, and Nicholas Coakley.
Funeral from the McLaughlin - Dello Russo Funeral Home, 60 Pleasant St., WOBURN Thursday, July 25th at 9AM. Followed by a funeral mass celebrated in St. Charles Borromeo Church, 280 Main Street, Woburn, at 10AM. Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend. Visiting hours Wednesday 4 thru 8. Services will conclude with burial at Calvary Cemetery, Woburn. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to any of the following non-profit organizations which played a key part in Elaine's life: VNA of Middlesex East & Visiting Nurse Hospice, 607 North Ave, Suite 17, Wakefield, MA 01880, the Woburn Council of Social Concern, 2 Merrimac St. Woburn, MA 01801, or the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research Fund, PO Box 6050, New Bedford, MA 02742.