Maria Julia Terra

Maria Julia (Goulart da Silva) Terra, of Somerville, passed away peacefully in the early morning of March 15, 2025, surrounded by her loving family at Rose Monahan Hospice Home in Worcester, following weeks of declining health and a few years of multiple chronic health conditions.

She was 88 years old. Many family members visited her in her final weeks and days.

Maria Julia Goulart da Silva was born into a large loving family on August 31, 1936, in Angústias, Horta, Faial, Azores, Portugal, daughter of the late José Goulart da Silva and Luisa Augusta das Neves. 

The second of six siblings, she was a third parent to her younger sisters and brothers, constantly cooking, cleaning, caring for, and sometimes cajoling. The tightknit family prayed the rosary, played musical instruments and sang at home and in their church choir, spurring Maria Julia’s lifelong Catholic faith and love of music. They also vacationed for many years in Varadouro, Faial, a beautiful seaside oasis where they later built a house together with their family.

Maria Julia met the love of her life Florêncio Monteiro de Freitas Terra when she was a teenager. They married May 18, 1958 at her family church. After seven years of marriage, they welcomed their daughter Ana Cristina in 1965, followed by their son Florêncio José in 1967. 

Maria Julia, Florêncio, and their children immigrated to Boston on March 20, 1970, following family and the many waves of Azoreans fleeing economic uncertainty caused by Portugal’s dictatorship and the 1958-59 eruption of Faial’s Capelinhos volcano. They settled in Somerville, where they purchased a home in 1979.

Maria Julia and Florêncio welcomed family and friends to their home over the years for Easter, Thanksgiving, and countless meals and birthday parties. She was an excellent cook, tireless host and gifted storyteller. Saturday nights she cooked and cleaned the house; Sundays she visited family in Medford, Woburn, or East Providence. 

Maria Julia worked at Somerville Hospital’s cafeteria for 27 years, until retiring in 1998 to take care of her husband and help raise her beloved grandchildren. She made many lifelong friends there, reminiscing fondly about her former coworkers and was a member of the Somerville Hospital Ladies’ Aid Society. 

She was a longtime parishioner of Saint Catherine of Genoa in Somerville, volunteering at its annual bazaar for many years. She also regularly attended mass at Saint Clement Parish in Medford and Saint Michael Parish in Hudson. She was a member of the Somerville and Hudson Senior Centers.

She loved butterflies, angels and the color purple. She was social, kind, beautiful, generous, creative, funny, resourceful, thrifty, and sometimes a little stubborn and sassy. She talked for hours with people she met in stores. She talked to her neighbors on their porches, stoops, and backyards. As someone who never drove, she loved walking all over her neighborhood, exploring streets she had never walked down before and meeting new people along the way. She made friends everywhere she went. She cherished spending time with her family above all else.

She was an avid supporter of Saint Catherine of Genoa Church, Catholic TV Boston, EWTN and many other charities that assist people who are sick, impoverished, imprisoned and without homes or families. 

Maria Julia was predeceased by her beloved husband Florêncio Monteiro in 1999, as well as her brother José Faustino and sister-in-law Maria Luisa; sister Fátima and brother-in-law José Gonçalves; sisters-in-law Maria Luisa, La-Salette, Angelina, and Elvira; brothers-in-law Gabriel, João and Manuel; niece Ana Patricia; and many other cherished relatives and friends both in the United States and Portugal.

She is survived by her daughter Ana Cristina Terra-Salomão and son-in-law Claudinor O. Salomão of Hudson, son Florêncio Jose Terra and daughter-in-law Meg Chisholm of Chelsea, Vermont; grandson Mark and granddaughter-in-law Amanda; grandson Jeffrey; granddaughter Julia; great-grandson Gilbert; brother Manuel Jorge da Silva and sister-in-law Fátima of San Leandro, CA; brother Joaquim da Silva and sister-in-law Fátima of East Providence, RI; sister Luisa Teresa da Silva Freitas and brother-in-law Victor of San Leandro, CA; sister-in-law Cecilia Terra Garcia of Horta, Faial; brothers-in-law José Eduardo Alvernaz of Medford and Luís Andrade of Ponta Delgada, São Miguel and many nieces,  nephews, grandnieces, grandnephews, great-grandnieces, great-grandnephews, cousins and friends both in the United States and Portugal. 

A funeral mass for Maria Julia will be celebrated at Saint Catherine of Genoa Church, 185 Summer Street, in Somerville, on Thursday, March 20, at 11:00am. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Interment will follow at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, where Maria Julia will be laid to rest with her husband. In accordance with her wishes, there will be no public wake or viewing. 

Her family extends their heartfelt gratitude to the nurses and medical staff of UMass Memorial Health Medical Center, Whittier Rehabilitation Hospital and Rose Monahan Hospice Home for their attentive care. 

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Maria Julia’s memory to:

Rose Monahan Hospice Home, 10 Judith Road, Worcester, MA 01602

Saint Catherine of Genoa Church, 179 Summer Street (Parish Center) Somerville, MA 02143 

or the charity of your choice.