Rita Delia Dowd

1926 - 2015

Rita Delia Dowd

Age: 89 • South Burlington, VT and Peterborough, NH

1926 - 2015

Rita Delia Dowd, 89, a resident of Peterborough, NH since the fall of 2014, died peacefully at the Summerhill Assisted Living community while held in the love and care of her family.

Born in Easthampton, MA on March 17, 1926, Rita was the daughter of the late Pamela G. Meyer, and the sister of the late Dorothy "Dot" A. Facteau Koestring. She received her education in Malden, MA and graduated from Malden High School with the class of 1944 and hairdressing school soon after, working in hair salons in Boston with her mother.

She married Paul E Dowd on April 30, 1950 and soon had their hands full as they raised seven children together. The family first lived in Woburn, MA where she worked at Bradley's Department Store at night and did hairdressing in their home during the day.

She was a reserved, no-nonsense kind of woman whose heart was softest when in the company of babies and young children.

Paul and Rita moved to Bennington, VT in 1965, and Rita held various jobs in the Bennington Public Schools, Grant's Department Store, and lastly at H. Greenberg and Son's. Her most important work was the work she put into raising her family.

After they retired, Paul and Rita moved to South Burlington in 1993, where they made their home for over twenty years with their daughter, Ellen and her husband Leigh, where you would find her keeping busy baking, hanging laundry, sewing and doing all the other things she cherished, while helping them raise their children Jennifer and Laura.

They wintered in St Augustine, FL for many years, and you could always find them walking hand in hand on the beach in FL or around their South Burlington neighborhood and local mall. Rita especially liked to peek at babies in strollers offering praise and complements to their parents, and was known to play Ring around the Rosie with the neighborhood children.

After Paul passed away in Florida on September 2, 2014 she moved into Summerhill Assisted Living Community in Peterborough, NH where she met many new people in the local area, assisting the children in Dublin Elementary School and participating in other community activities, while enjoying visits from her large and extended family in the northeast.

She was a devoted wife for 64 years and a loving mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and great-great-grandmother. She was an avid gardener and bird watcher and enjoyed working in her flower and vegetable gardens. She also enjoyed cooking, baking, sewing and knitting, passing the love of these activities to many of her children and grandchildren.

Rita's survivors include her seven children: Pamela Dowd Drolet (David) of Palm Coast, FL.; Paula Dowd Coletti (Larry) of Palm Coast, FL.; Ernest Paul Dowd (Katherine) of Brattleboro, VT.; Linda Dowd Lambert of Amherst, MA.; Ellen Dowd Sweet (Leigh) of South Burlington, VT.; Celeste Dowd O'Malley of Brattleboro, VT.; and Susan Dowd Ellingwood (Mark) of Hancock, NH. She leaves twelve grandchildren, twelve great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Rita also leaves several nieces, nephews, and friends. She was predeceased by her sister, Dorothy in 2009, and her beloved granddaughter, Molly McNeil Dowd in 2014.

The Dowd family would like to offer very special thanks to the kind and caring staff of Summerhill Assisted Living. In lieu of flowers, please consider gifts in Rita's honor be given to one of the following organizations:

The Lund, with "Childcare" noted in the memo, P.O. Box 4009, Burlington, VT 05401, or Warm the Children Fund at www.warmthechildren.org; or The United Way at www.unitedwaywind ham.org.

Friends and Family may call at Jellison Funeral Home, 25 Concord St, (Route 202) Peterborough, NH on Thursday Evening 5:30-7:30PM.

A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Friday, December 4th at 11:00 AM at Saint Patrick's Church, 89 Main Street, Jaffrey, NH. Reverend Wilfred Deschamps, pastor, will be the Celebrant.

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