Mary L. "Mayme" Jacques

Mary L. "Mayme" Diehl Jacques of Winchendon, MA, and Vero Beach, FL, born January 6, 1929 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, died on June 6, 2008, in her home at Vero Beach, with family and friends around her.

In the Korean War, she was stationed at the 121st Evacuation Hospital in Pusan, in 1951–52. As a Lieutenant in the Army Nurse Corps, she was the youngest Army Nurse in Korea at that time.

During her long and impressive nursing career, she was Director of Nurses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Medical Infirmary; the Director of Nurses at Athol Memorial Hospital in Athol, MA; and the Director of Nurses at the Winchendon Hospital in Winchendon, Massachusetts before its closing. At other times, she performed social work for the town of Winchendon and accrued many years nursing in the Veterans' Administration Hospital in Rutland, Massachusetts, before its closing.

After graduating from Murdock High School, Class of 1946, in Winchendon, Mrs. Jacques attended and graduated from Mount Auburn Hospital School of Nursing in Cambridge, MA. After serving several years in the Army Nurse Corps, she received her Bachelor of Science Degree in nursing from Boston College School of Nursing and a Masters Degree in Nursing Administration from Boston University.

She resided in Old Centre Historic District in Winchendon since 1938, where she moved at age 11, and she continued to follow, with close interest, the happenings in her hometown while maintaining her matriarchy, as an avidly involved and deeply loved member of her family. Winchendon was her permanent home until she moved to Vero Beach, Florida in 1982. She then returned to Winchendon each summer until becoming permanently disabled in 2006.

Mary was a deep lover of animals and children and supported many organizations working on their behalf. She was a lifetime member of the Winchendon American Legion Eugene M. Connor Post #193, the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #2158 also in Winchendon and the Winchendon Historical Society.

She was the daughter of the late Ralph G. and Yvonne D. Diehl also of Winchendon. Survivors include her husband, William "Bill" A. Jacques of Vero Beach; sister, Yvonne "Gerry" Harrington; brother-in-law, Robert N. Harrington of Winchendon; and sister-in-law, Lillian A. Hall Diehl of Danvers, MA. She also leaves step-daughter, Kathy Jacques of Damariscotta, Maine; step-sons: William W. Jacques of Anchorage, Alaska and Stephen Jacques of Chelsea, Maine, and nine living nieces and nephews of the Harrington and Diehl families, plus twenty-four grandnieces and nephews and four great grandnieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two brothers: Ralph G. Diehl Jr. and Anton B. Diehl III, also nephew, Anton "Tony" B. Diehl IV.

Services in Winchendon will be at the Church at Old Centre on August 21 at 2:00 PM. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made in her name, to the W.P. Clark Memorial YMCA, 155 Central St., Winchendon, MA 01475.