Frances Fitzgerald McGuane

Frances Fitzgerald McGuane

of Lowell; Teacher

LOWELL -- Frances Fitzgerald McGuane passed away on Friday night, March 23rd, after a two year struggle with cancer. Blessed to be with those who loved her, she succumbed at Saints Memorial Medical Center in Lowell, Massachusetts.

Born in Lowell, Massachusetts on October 18, 1921, Frances was the fourth child of Thomas and Agnes (Burns) Fitzgerald. She had a true passion for learning and was double promoted in her primary years so that she graduated from Lowell High School at the young age of fifteen and from Lowell State Teachers' College, at the tender age of nineteen. Her initial teaching job was at the Alton Bay Elementary School in New Hampshire and she later assumed positions in Billerica, Massachusetts and Lowell, Massachusetts. In Lowell, she taught second grade at the Green, Laura Lee and Reilly Schools and later received a Master's degree in Reading and ESL and taught at Lowell High.

Frances married sports writer George McGuane in June of 1947 after an extended courtship which spanned the war years while George served in the Navy.

In her social life, Fran loved to be with her family, her sisters Kay and Mary, to play bridge, and to pursue her love of reading. She was creative in art, sewing and knitting and loved to go dancing with her husband on Saturday nights. Fran was a member of the Immaculate Conception Women's Guild, Vesper Country Club and the Investment Club in which the members conscientiously tried to save money, but ended up spending more than earning.

Frances Fitzgerald McGuane leaves three children with whom she instilled a love for education and a strong faith, and along with her husband, cultivated within them, a love of life. She is survived by her son George of Lowell and his wife Teri, her son Tom of Ocean, New Jersey and his wife Mary Lee and her daughter Martha of Lowell with whom she lived. She had six granchildren; Rachel McGuane Brindger and her husband Justin of Washington, DC, Keri Darcy and her husband Eric of Lowell, Mike Murphy and his wife Heather of Braintree, Thomas B. McGuane of Chicago, Illinois and Kyle and Micaela McGuane of Lowell and Boston. Her three great-granchildren are Charlotte and Jack Darcy of Lowell and Nathanial Brindger of Washington, DC.

Many nieces and nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews survive her along with her goddaughter Mary Ann McCarthy of Lowell and her nephew Justin McCarthy and his family of Westford; and a sister-in-law Alice McGuane of Chelmsford.

Special thanks are given to Maryann Abcunas, who became Frances' most positive advocate during her illness and gave her joy, peace and a desire to persevere through adversity.

McGUANE -- In Lowell, MA, March 23, 2012, at Saints Medical, Frances Fitzgerald McGuane, 90, wife of the late George J. McGuane. Relatives and friends are invited to attend her Funeral Mass to be celebrated Tuesday morning at 11 o'clock at HOLY FAMILY PARISH -- STE. MARIE'S CHURCH at the corner of 75 Chamberlin and Grafton Streets in Lowell. Burial in St. Mary Cemetery in Tewksbury. Those wishing may make contributions in her memory to Merrimack Valley VNA Hospice, 360 Merrimack St. # 9, Lawrence, MA 01843 or the Spindle Cancer Fund, c/o Saints Foundation, 155 Merrimack St., P.O. Box 7075, Lowell, MA 01852. E-condolences/directions at odonnellfuneralhome.com. Arrangements by O'DONNELL FUNERAL HOME, LOWELL (978 or 866) 458-8768.