NEW BEDFORD — Marion J. Wholley, 98, of New Bedford, MA passed away Tuesday, July 16, 2019 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA after suffering a stroke. She was a devoted wife of the late Thomas R Wholley Jr who had just passed away 4 months earlier at the age of 104 after 72 years of marriage. If you were to say, she died of a broken heart you might be correct.
Born in New Bedford, MA she was the daughter of the late Charles HW Booth of New Bedford and the late Alice Gatenby Booth of Taftville, CT who named her after a close personal friend in Connecticut named Marion Jervis.
Marion was pre-deceased by a younger brother, the late Spencer Booth of New Bedford who died in infancy, and two sisters, the late Janet Lupold of St. Petersburg, FL and the late Flora Wood of Atlanta, GA.
After growing up in Fairhaven, MA and attending Fairhaven High School for three years she moved to New Bedford and completed her senior year at New Bedford High School. During World War II she worked as a civilian at Camp Edwards in Falmouth, MA arranging transportation for war time GI’s as well as at the command in Boston, in which she received a letter of commendation for her excellent work.
In 1946 she married her husband Tom who she met on a blind date, just prior to the War and began a new life as a homemaker. During that time she was a communicant of the First Presbyterian Church in New Bedford; an active member of the Ivy Circle of the New Bedford Women’s club and a long time worker st the polls during municipal and national elections. In fact her first election as a worker was the Dewey vs Truman historic election in which the workers stayed all night counting and recounting the votes by hand. Eventually she began a second career as a cafeteria worker at New Bedford High School where she worked for 25 years.
Marion was a kind hearted soul and an accomplished knitter who would make sweaters for babies and give them as gifts to families whom she heard had a new born baby in the house.
A descendant of a New Bedford Whaling master, Charles Wilbur of New Bedford who was lost at sea on an Arctic Whaling expedition, Marion and her husband, who were interested in local history, took on leadership roles with ” Descendants of Whaling Masters, a local group that supports and encourages the advancement of knowledge of the history of New Bedford when it produced oil that lit up the lamps all over America before Edison invented the light bulb.
Marion is survived by a son, Thomas C. Wholley of New Bedford; three daughters, Joanne Sinclair of Stoneham, MA and her husband Jim, Judith Jaskiel of Salem, MA and her husband Stan, and Jeanne Dolan of Taunton, MA and her husband Greg; two grandchildren, Zachary Greenberg, of Attleboro, MA and Ethan Greenberg of North Reading, MA; and several nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours will take place at Wilson Funeral Home, 479 County St., New Bedford, MA on Friday July 19, 2019 from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM. A funeral service will be held at 9: 30 AM at Wilson Funeral Home on Saturday, July 20, followed by a burial service at Rural Cemetary.