Frieda M. MacFarlane

Frieda M. (Aborjaily) MacFarlane, 89, the co-founder and former President of MacFarlane Energy and one of the first women in New Englands oil heat industry, died May 25th in Las Vegas. In 1946, Frieda and her husband Pete started Peter MacFarlane, Inc., a heating oil business with one oil truck and an office in their kitchen, after Pete returned from WWII. At the same time, Frieda cared for their two young daughters. The business continued to grow and employed numerous family members. In 1994, the Massachusetts Oil Heat Council honored Mrs. MacFarlane as Woman of the Year for her dedication and many years of service to the region and the industry. Mrs. MacFarlane continued to be active in the business until her retirement at 86. Born in Bostons South End to Lebanese immigrants Karam and Melia (Kiame) Aborjaily, Frieda and her late husband Pete met as teenagers and married in 1941. After the birth of their first four children, they moved their family to the Roslindale/West Roxbury area in 1952. The previous year, they had purchased a summer home in a North Shore seaside community. She took great pleasure in this rustic home with its ocean view and in the company of her neighbors. In her later years, her porch was a gathering place for both young and old who loved to visit Miss Frieda. She was proud to call both communities home for almost sixty years. Despite suffering from crippling rheumatoid arthritis for more than 40 years, which prevented her from continuing to play the piano and organ, Mrs. MacFarlane continued to work and lead an active life. In 2002, she was interviewed for the WCVB-TV Arthritis Foundations television special and said You have to have a good outlook on life and never dwell on your aches and pains. According to her family, this drive and determination allowed her to remain active in the family business well beyond most of her industry contemporaries retirement and to travel extensively with her children after she was widowed in 1987. Mrs. MacFarlane leaves her five children - Ruth Hunter of Chestnut Hill, Joan Isaacson and her husband Robert of Beaufort, SC, Peter MacFarlane and his lifetime partner Marc Salvas of Las Vegas, NV, Scott MacFarlane and his wife Cathy of Needham, and Bruce MacFarlane and his wife Frances of Quincy; her sisters and their husbands Evelyn and Robert Shedd of Walpole, Rosaline and Jim Buchonis of Centerville, and Joyce and Ted Neals of North Reading; six grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, the Salvation Army, or the Arthritis Foundation. A memorial service honoring Mrs. MacFarlane will be held on July 27, 2010 at the Endicott Estate, 656 East Street, Dedham, MA. The family will be receiving friends at 10 am with the service beginning at 11 am.