Agnes McGrath

Agnes (Tucker) McGrath, 87, of Worcester died Monday February 14, 2011 after a long period of declining health.

Her husband of 50 years Paul F. McGrath, and a daughter Paula McGrath, predeceased her.

She is survived by her children, Edward F. McGrath and his wife Jane, Suzanne M. Raynes and her husband Peter, all of Worcester, Andrew L. McGrath and his wife Sarah Patton of Sutton; two grandchildren, Ian and Megan McGrath both of Worcester; Agnes also leaves behind, a sister Jean Kravsow and her husband Irving of Bloomfield, CT; her brothers, Edward Tucker of Naples, FL, Donald Tucker and his wife Marguerite of Wilmington, MA, and Robert Tucker of Vernon, CT; several cousins, nieces, nephews, extended family and friends, including her devoted friend Dorothy Swartz of Worcester.

Agnes was born in Worcester, daughter of Edward and Agnes (Mara) Tucker. She attended the Worcester Public Schools and graduated from Classical High School. Agnes then attended The New England Conservatory of Music and earned her degree from the Katherine Gibbs School.

Agnes was a talented pianist, vocalist, violist and cellist. While attending The New England Conservatory of Music, she studied opera with the late Boris Goldovsky and on several occasions played cello and viola at Symphony Hall Boston with The Boston Symphony Orchestra and conductor Serge Koussevitzky.

While attending a dance at the Statler Hotel in Boston across the street from the Coconut Grove Nightclub fire on November 28, 1942, Agnes was one of many individuals pressed into service that long and cold night by Boston Fire and Police personnel to help comfort and transport scores of victims of the inferno.

She was a former employee of radio station WTAG in Worcester, The Juilliard School in New York, Rockwell International in Pittsburgh, PA, The Small Business Service Bureau and Heffernan Press in Worcester. She was a former officer in The Guild of Our Lady, and a member of The Friday Club. She was a life-long member of Blessed Sacrament Church in Worcester.

Agnes was devoted to her family, a loving and generous woman who always put the needs of others before her own.

Friends and relatives are invited to visit with the family Thursday, February 17th from 9:30 am to 10:30 am in the MERCADANTE FUNERAL HOME & CHAPEL, 370 Plantation St. Her funeral Mass will follow at 11:00 am in Blessed Sacrament Church, 555 Pleasant St. Burial will be in St John Cemetery. In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to the Worcester County Food Bank, 474 Boston Turnpike Rd, Shrewsbury.

The family would like to thank the nurses and aides of The Saint Francis Rehabilitation and Skilled Nursing Center in Worcester for the care and comfort given to Agnes during her brief residence there.