Shrewsbury – M. Thelma (Thomas) Formalarie, of Shrewsbury, died Tuesday, June 24, 2014 in Shrewsbury Nursing Home. She was 88.
Mary Thelma Thomas was born Sept. 30, 1925 in Waltham, a daughter of the late Seth Tislow Thomas and Evelyn Althea (Kelly) Thomas, and graduated from Waltham High School. She married Joseph R. Formalarie April 4, 1948 in St. Bernard's Church in West Newton. They lived many years in Waltham, Hudso, and St. Petersburg, Florida. Thelma later moved to Boxborough and Acton, and in her last year in Shrewsbury.
Thelma's professional career began at JC Penney and later BC Ames Dept. Store in Waltham. She then became an Administrative Assistant at Swanson Court Apartments in Boxborough.
Her interests varied: knitting, playing the piano, cooking and baking, loyally following the Boston Red Sox, spending time with her family, and time at their home in Gilford, New Hampshire and in Florida.
Thelma's husband, Joseph R. Formalarie, died Feb. 19, 1977, and she was predeceased by her infant child, Mary, and her sister, Mildred McDowell.
She leaves her children, Linda A. Wheeler and her husband Les of Oxford, Conn., Judith M. Mayo and her husband Michael, Susan M. Norton and her husband Jack, all of Hudson, Richard J. Formalarie and his wife Anne of Campton, N.H., and Jayne M. Roque and her husband Thomas of Shrewsbury; her sisters, Eleanor Formalarie of Derry, N.H. and Muriel Fisher and her husband Robert of Waltham; her grandchildren, Jill Burton, Wendy Eagleton, Matthew, Jason and Steven Mayo, Corey and Bryan Norton, Andrew, Lauren and Kevin Formalarie, Joseph, Brendan, and Caitlyn Roque; her great-grandchildren, Tyler, Cody and Jack Mayo, Rylen and Declan Mayo, and Makaila and Delia Eagleton; and many nieces and nephews.
Family and friends will honor and remember Thelma's life by gathering for calling hours Thursday, June 26, from 5 – 8 p.m., at Heald & Chiampa Funeral Directors ~ The Sumner House, 5 Church Road, On the Common, Shrewsbury Center, and again Friday, June 27, at 10 a.m., before leaving in procession to Saint Mary's Church, 640 Main St., Shrewsbury, where her funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Burial will be private.
Memorials in her name may be made to the Jewish Healthcare & Hospice, 629 Salisbury St., Worcester, MA 01609.
