Lillian T. (Ankiewicz) Roche

Waltham – Mrs. Lillian T. (Ankiewicz) Roche, of Waltham, died Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at Newton-Wellesley Hospital. She was 80.

Lillian was born in Chelsea on March 8, 1935, a daughter of the late John and Edna (Goryszewska) Ankiewicz, and moved to Waltham as a teenager. She worked in younger years at The Lighthouse bar on Main Street owned by her mother's family before becoming a secretary at the Raytheon Company.

On January 22, 1961 she married Waltham native Charles A. Roche, Sr. in Saint Stanislaus Church in Chelsea. Lil and Chuck, a retired Waltham fire lieutenant, were married for forty years until his death on October 21, 2000.

After her children were in school Lil went to work for the Waltham School Department and worked in the cafeterias at South Middle School and at Waltham High School. She also worked for years as an admissions secretary in the emergency room at Waltham Hospital. Following her retirement she became a volunteer at the Wm. F. Stanley Senior Center in Waltham.

She leaves her children, Charles A. "Chuck" Roche, Jr. and his wife, Jennine, of Carver, Waltham Fire Lieut. R. Thomas Roche and his companion, Heather Walsh, of Medway, Robert J. Roche and his wife, Justine, and Kelli A. Rosenthal and her husband, Al, all of Waltham; her grandchildren, Katlyn, Sean, Nicole, Zachary, Bryan, Hayden and Matthew Roche and Charlie, Eric and Dylan Rosenthal and many nieces and nephews.

Lillian was also the sister of the late Benny Ankiewicz and Jeannette Ryan.

Family and friends will honor and remember Lil's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Friday, November 20th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 8 a.m. on Saturday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Jude Church, 147 Main Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will celebrated at 9 a.m. Burial will be in Grove Hill Cemetery, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, One Bulfinch Place, 2nd Floor, Boston, MA 02114.