Rita E. Connearney

Waltham – Mrs. Rita E. (Delorey) Connearney, of Waltham, died Monday, November 15, 2010 at Carleton-Willard Village in Bedford. She was 91.

Rita was born in Waltham on January 6, 1919, one of fourteen children born to the late Margaret (O’Callaghan) and D. Joseph Delorey. She was a lifelong Waltham resident and a graduate of Saint Mary’s High School. Long active in the parish, she was a past president of the high school alumni association and a member of the Mother’s Club and the Christian Brothers Guild.

The wife of the late John A. Connearney, she leaves her children, Patricia A. Deveaux and her husband, Donald, of Waltham, M. Sandra Millerick and her husband, John, of Ipswich, Stephen A. Connearney and his wife, Ginger, of Waltham and Kevin M. Connearney and his wife, Dale, of Ashland; her grandchildren, Jennifer Dewey, Matthew Deveaux, Shawn and Christopher Millerick, Sarah Connors, and Erin Connearney; her great-grandchildren, Emily, Jake, and Luke Dewey, Dane and Brock Deveaux, and Aidan, Colin, and Emerson Millerick; her brother, Leonard Delorey of Winthrop; her sisters, Jean Savino of Florida and Patricia Connolly of Indiana and many nieces and nephews.

Rita was also a sister of the late Richard, Joseph, Cornelius, Gertrude, Mary, Bernard, and David Delorey, Agnes O’Connor, Barbara Keefe and Edna Elms.

Family and friends will honor and remember Rita’s life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte.20), Waltham on Thursday from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Friday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Mary’s Church, 133 School Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Waltham.