Geneva M. Cashman, of Brockton, 86 passed away on Sunday January 25, 2009 at West Acres Nursing Home after a long illness. Born in Brockton, on August 6, 1922, she was the daughter of the late John Henry Cashman and Beatrice Irene (Poudrier) Cashman. Geneva was the second oldest of seven Cashman children. Her grandparents, the Cashmans and Poudriers, emigrated from Ireland and Quebec, Canada, respectively, to find work in Brockton’s shoe factories.
A 1940 graduate of Brockton High School, Geneva worked at the E.C. Hall Company of Brockton before beginning her many years of services with the Clerk-Magistrate’s office of the Brockton District Court. She was hired by the late George N. Covett, who at the time was the Clerk-Magistrate of the District Court before becoming its presiding justice. She continued her employment during the tenures of Clerk-Magistrates David Stevens, Andrew Dooley and Kevin Creedon. Creedon, who still serves as the Clerk-Magistrate of the District Court, when reached at the court yesterday, in recalling Ms. Cashman, noted that the “The passing of Geneva Cashman marks the end of an era”.
Geneva’s father, the late John Henry Cashman, was a Brockton firefighter for 41 years. He was one of the survivors of the Strand Theatre Fire of March 10, 1914, that took the lives of 13 Brockton firefighters. Mr. Cashman spent several months recuperating at the Brockton Hospital, from the burns he suffered on that fateful night. Ms. Cashman’s oldest brother, John Henry Cashman, was one of the first Brocktonians to die during World War II. Several streets in Brockton are named after Lt. Cashman, who at the age of 22 years, on April 30, 1943, under the command of General George Patton, was killed in-action in Tunisia, North Africa. Three days after his death, Geneva responded to her doorbell on Brockton’s East Side, to receive the news from two U.S. Army soldiers that her oldest brother had given his life fighting the German Army.
Geneva Cashman leaves a large extended family. She was the sister of the late Lt. John Henry Cashman who died during combat in WWII; Patrica Rita (Cashman) Robichaud and her late husband, Robert; Lorraine Theresa (Cashman) Charlebois and her late husband, George; Jeanne Gloria (Cashman) Lawton and her late husband, Judge James R. Lawton; the late George Murray Cashman and his widow Celia (Perrault); and the late Donald Richard Cashman and his widow, Joan (Crossman). She was also the devoted aunt to 25 nieces and nephews, 41 grand nieces and nephews and 15 great-grand nieces and nephews. As recalled by her nephew, Judge Mark Lawton, of Bridgewater, “Aunt Geneva was a second mother to us all and she relished that role, just as we relished her.”
Funeral from the Conley Funeral Home 138 Belmont Street (Rte 123) Brockton Thursday at 9 am followed by a Funeral Mass in Christ The King Parish/ St. Colman Church at 10 am. Burial in Calvary Cemetery. Visiting hours Wednesday 4-8 pm. Memorials in Geneva’s name may be made to Regina Cleri (for retired priests), 60 William Cardinal O’Connell Way, Boston, MA 02114 or to Christ the King Church 42 Wendell Ave. Brockton, MA 02302 as well as the Missionary Society of St. James the Apostle 24 Clark St., Boston, MA 02109.