Josephine Belliveau

Waltham – Mrs. Josephine ‘Jo’ (Byrne) Belliveau, of Waltham, died Tuesday, August 16, 2011 at her daughter’s home in Chelmsford. She was 89.

Jo was born in Waltham on February 12, 1922, a daughter of the late Joseph and Theresa (Johnson) Byrne, and had been a lifelong resident. She was a 1941 graduate of Saint Mary’s High School in Waltham. After that she went to work for the Raytheon Corporation in Waltham until September of 1945 when she married Amedee J. ‘Midi’ Belliveau. Jo and Midi, a retired Waltham Firefighter, were married just a few months shy of 50 years when he died in March, 1995.

After her marriage Jo never returned to the outside work force, staying home to raise her four children. She had a happy career raising the kids with Midi and she volunteered for many organizations in Waltham. She was a sixty-five year member of Saint Charles Borromeo Parish where she was a ‘room mother’ for various grades at the parish school and had been a member of the Women’s Club. She also taught with the CCD program, helped to organize the yearly Parish Bazaar and volunteered with the ‘1000 Club’. She was also a past president of the Waltham Fire Wives Auxiliary.

Jo was also a Girl Scout leader for over forty years, first at the troop at Saint Charles School and later at the Whittemore School. During that time she served in various capacities including chairing the Neighborhood, Cookie and Calender committees. She was also the Encampment Director, organizing activities for some five-hundred girls including camping at Cedar Hill, annual trips to the USS Massachusetts and sleepovers at the Museum of Science in Boston. In 1984 she received the THANKS BADGE, the Girl Scouts highest award for volunteers. She was also active with the Cub Scouts for a short time.

Jo and Midi volunteered with the REMME Association for many years, sharing their enthusiasm for bowling and accompanying the members on many outings and supervising weekly activities. 1n 1981 Jo was awarded the Women of the Year for all her good works for the organization. She was also a faithful volunteer with the Meals on Wheels Program, from it’s inception until illness forced her to slow down in 2008. She followed the program from Marishill Nursing Home to Waltham Hospital to Weston Manor and finally to the Wm. Stanley Senior Center in Waltham. As a member of the senior center she not only helped to run the Meals program but enjoyed all of the trips and events run by the center and its staff. She had many friends at the Center, and had an especially good time with her traveling companions, Ester Landry and Lucy McDonald.

She leaves her children, Raymond Belliveau of North Dighton, Catherine Walsh and her husband, Robert, of Brentwood, New Hampshire, Patrick Belliveau and his wife, Susan, of Waltham and Alice Hill and her husband, Edward, of Chelmsford, with whom Jo made her home for the past two and one-half years; her sisters, Anna Attardo of Burlington and Winifred Aucoin of Weston; her sisters-in-law, Dorrila Orleans, Theresa Doherty, Jeannette Prescott and Alice Hart, all of Waltham; 11 grandchildren, 4 great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews.

She was also a sister of the late Francis Byrne, William Byrne, Margaret Raguso, Theresa Harper-Edmonds and Catherine Byrne and sister-in-law of the late Anna Byrne and Geneva O’Brien.

Family and friends will honor and remember Josephine’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Friday, August 19th, from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Charles Borromeo Church, 51 Hall Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to the VNA Hospice of Greater Lowell, 336 Central Street, P.O. Box 1965, Lowell, MA 01852.