Mary Louise Somers Obituary (1930 - 2016)

PORTLAND - Mary Louise (Sullivan) Somers died peacefully Sunday June 19, 2016 at Maine Medical Center surrounded by her family. She was born in Portland on January 5, 1930, the daughter of John H. and Louise J. (Hinds) Sullivan. Mary Lou attended Sacred Heart School and then graduated from St. Josephs Academy in Portland and St. Josephs College where she earned her Bachelors degree in English. On August 29, 1953, Mary Lou married Harold E. Somers at Sacred Heart Parish and they lived in Portland, Lewiston, and Island Pond, Vermont before then settling in Montpelier, Vermont in 1964 where they raised their three sons and daughter and where Mary Lou lived in her beloved house on Loomis Street for 50 years. A lifelong educator, Mary Lou taught English and Spanish before becoming a special education tutor in the Montpelier Public Schools for more than two decades, touching many lives with her commitment to her students and her enthusiasm for teaching. Together with her husband, Mary Lou also ran the Princes of Breffny Tour Company, specializing in travel to Ireland, Spain, and Hawaii, and Mary Lou continued to travel the globe enthusiastically with her family after Harolds passing. Since childhood, Mary Lou looked forward to spending time on Peaks Island, and while raising her family, spent every summer at the family cottage with her mother-in-law Katharine with whom she had a particularly close relationship. She taught her children to appreciate island life, quiet afternoons reading at the beach, pleasant bike rides and walks along the backshore, and fierce nighttime Scrabble competitions, while also playing the invariably gracious hostess to the many friends and relatives who visited. Mary Lous life centered around her family, a wide circle of close friends, and her extraordinary faith. She was a devout communicant at St. Augustines Parish in Montpelier, Vermont where she was active in the Catholic Daughters, eventually serving as State Regent. She was always the doting Gram for her six grandchildren who enjoyed her famous snickerdoodle cookies and looked forward to the personalized cards that arrived from her like clockwork with any holiday or special occasion. With a quick wit and an easy smile, Mary Lou displayed a great sense of humor, loved keeping up with current events and political happenings, tending to her plants and flower gardens, reading voraciously, and engaging in spirited conversations with friends and family around the dinner table. After leaving Vermont to return to Portland in 2014, she lived very happily at the Park Danforth where she was close to her sister Anne and made many new and special friends, though always expressing nostalgia for her friends in Montpelier and her longtime home there. In addition to her husband Harold, Mary Lou is predeceased by her sisters Catherine and Janet and her brother John. She is survived by her sons Frederick and his wife Jeanette, Michael and his wife Evelyn, Thomas and his wife Katie, her daughter Susan and her husband Peter, her sister Anne, 6 grandchildren, her nephew and surrogate son Jay, many nieces and nephews and grand nieces and nephews, her childhood and lifelong friends Helen Mary Polito and Joan Whiting, and her dear friends from Montpelier. Visiting Hours will be held on Sunday, June 26, from 2-6PM in the Conroy-Tully Walker Funeral Home, 172 State Street, Portland. Prayers will be recited in the Funeral Home on Monday, June 27, at 9:15AM followed by a 10AM Mass of Christian Burial at Sacred Heart Church, 65 Mellen Street, Portland. Interment to follow in New Calvary Cemetery, Broadway, South Portland. To view Mary Lous memorial page or to share an online condolence, please visit www.ConroyTullyWalker.com. Memorial contributions may be made to the Portland Matthew 25 Project, Portland Peninsula and Island Parishes, 307 Congress Street, Portland, ME 04101.