Methuen – Mary Agnes (Fitzgerald) Blanchette, 93, a longtime resident of Methuen died early Friday morning at the Merrimack Valley Hospice House in Haverhill, MA. She was the wife of the late Herve J. Blanchette.
Born in Lawrence, MA, in 1921, she was the daughter of Laurence & Margaret (Kelley) Fitzgerald. Known by her middle name of Agnes, she grew up in Lawrence, MA. She moved to Methuen in 1962 after marrying her husband Herve.
Mrs. Blanchette attended St. Mary’s Grammar School and Lawrence High School and worked at the Champion Paper Co., the Bolta Co. and the Lower Pacific Mills. She loved the outdoors and enjoyed many years camping with her husband across the United States and Canada. In later years they also traveled to Bermuda, Mexico and her dream Hawaii. She loved her Irish heritage, Hawaiian music and cardinals, which were a sign that Herve had come to visit her.
She was the last of ten siblings and was especially close to her sister Patricia (Fitzgerald) Bradley, who passed away in 2014. Her other siblings were Theresa Perkins, Eileen Fitzgerald, Margaret Rooseboom, Laurence Fitzgerald, Veronica Fitzgerald, Eleanor Misserville, William Fitzgerald, and James Fitzgerald. She is survived by one daughter, Nancy Obert and her husband Christopher of Bradford, MA and three step-children, David Blanchette and his wife Donna of Methuen, MA, Jack Blanchette and his wife Joy of Bow, NH and Jean Ann Krause and her husband Tim of Plum Island, MA. Agnes has 14 grandchildren, 26 great-grandchildren, including the late Cameron Obert, and two great-great grandchildren. Agnes also has a large extended family, including one sister-in-law, Louise Fitzgerald, and numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and close friends, especially her good neighbors Paul and Jeanne Rogers.
Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated Tuesday, March 17, 2015 at 11:00 A.M in Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, St. Augustine Chapel, 128 Ames Street, Lawrence, MA. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery also in Lawrence, MA. Calling hours will be Monday, March 16, 2015 from 4 to 8 pm at the John Breen Memorial Funeral Home Inc., 122 Amesbury Street, Lawrence, MA. Memorial contributions may be made in Agnes’s name to either the Alzheimer’s Association of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, 480 Pleasant St., Watertown, MA, 02472, or to the Merrimack Valley Hospice House, 360 North Ave., Haverhill, MA, 01830. To send an online condolence or for more information, please go to www.breenfuneralhome.com.