“I trust that God will take care of me.” These words were spoken by my mother in recent weeks. She received the gift of faith from God; through his grace, she believed, and through that belief, she loved. My mother’s faith was not loud, it was felt with a quiet certitude, and it was lived in how she loved others. Her family and her many friends, especially her cherished grandsons for whom she was so grateful, knew her love.
My mother trusted in the intercession of Saint Mary. “The Blessed Mother will take me,” my mother said recently. Two days later, she spoke of our Blessed Mother again; “I want her to know that I am happy to be in her care.” What a beautiful witness to the Lord’s grace and what a beautiful gift to me to hear her words.
(Barbara) Joan (Connor) Sullivan, formerly of Lexington, Massachusetts, was born on July 9, 1928 and was called home by the Lord on January 16, 2021. Joan was pre-deceased by her husband, James Henry Sullivan, her parents, Anne Marie (Bradley) and Daniel William Connor, her sisters and brothers, Anne Marie Friscia, Catherine Pauline Myers, Arlene Helen Goulart, Daniel William Connor, and Robert Francis Connor, her dear brothers and sisters in law, her niece, Valerie Ann Reed, and her nephew, Paul Connor. I, Lori Sullivan Evans, remain, with gratitude for her life and love. I am joined by my husband, Richard Evans, our sons, James and John Evans, her nieces and nephews, Warren Myers, Leslie Myers, Jay Goulart, Brian Connor, Dale King, Katherine Connor and Christine Connor, her many friends and her devoted caregivers, with whom she forged loving relationships in this sacred time of her life.
Joan was a graduate of Arlington High School and Katherine Dell Secretarial School, volunteered at The Women’s Lunch Place and Mystic Valley Elder Services, and worked for many years as a secretary in New York, but her true vocation was daughter, sister, wife, mother, grandmother, “Gaga,” and friend. We are grateful for her as a person, for her faith, for her love, and for her knowledge that, indeed, we may trust that God will take care of us.
“And behold I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Matthew 28:20
Relatives and friends are kindly invited to visit briefly with family at Costello Funeral Home, 177 Washington Street, Winchester, on Thursday, January 21, from 4-7 p.m., and are reminded to enter through the front door, wear masks and practice social distancing
A Mass of Christian Burial will be held in Saint Mary’s Church, 155 Washington St., Winchester, on Friday, January 22, at 11 a.m.
To view a photo slideshow of Joan, her life and her love, please Click Here
To view the Funeral Mass program and words of remembrance, please Click Here.