By Bonnie Adams, Managing Editor
Northborough – When Lucille (Hendrix) Holsomback MacDonald passed away on Jan. 7 she was just shy of celebrating her 102nd birthday. Recently her daughter-in-law Catherine (Cathy) Holsomback and dear friend (and Cathy’s sister) Jean Cox reminisced about the woman who they called a “sweet, gentle soul.”
Lucille was born on Jan. 18, 1914, in Alabama, the second oldest of 12 children. Like so many other young people who grew up in that challenging era, she “knew the meaning of hard work,” her daughter-in-law said.
“Not only did she help to take care of the younger children in the family, she also worked in the cotton fields when she was 15,” Cathy said.
A few years later the family moved to northern Maine. There she met and married Charles MacDonald. In 1963, they moved to Northborough with their son Lowell Holsomback.
Lucille worked as a stitcher for many years in the shoe industry in Marlborough. It was not only her work ethic that she brought to New England – she also brought her love of Southern cooking.
“She made all sorts of favorites like fried chicken and okra, biscuits, home fried potatoes and homemade iced tea,” Cathy said.
“She was also a great gardener,” Jean said. “She had beautiful vegetables and flowers.”
When Charles passed away in 1978, Cathy, Lowell and their children, Michelle and Susan, moved in with Lucille.
“She was so quiet you wouldn’t even know she was there!” Cathy said. “The only exception was when she went out to dance, which she loved to do. Sometimes she would be out later than her grandchildren!”
She also loved to sew, quilt or do crafts. She enjoyed watching television, especially “Family Feud” and the Boston Red Sox. She took pride in her appearance and liked to have her hair done.
“She never got her driver’s license though,” Cathy said.
For a lady who had celebrated a century’s worth of birthdays, Lucille was in excellent shape, physically and mentally, overall, Cathy said. That is, until her beloved son passed away last August after a lengthy battle with cancer. For when a child predeceases a parent, no matter the age, it is always a significant blow and so it was for Lucille.
“She stopped sleeping. She lost her appetite. And she went into hospice care,” Cathy said.
Always devoted, Cathy lovingly cared for Lucille, even though she too was grieving a great loss.
“Then [Lucille] seemed to bounce back. She was actually released from hospice, she was doing so well,” Jean said.
The family had actually planned on hosting a party for Lucille’s 102nd birthday, a tradition they had held for many years. But then just 24 hours after being released from hospice, Lucille passed away, quietly and without pain, at the home she and Cathy shared.
“I really think she died of a broken heart,” Cathy said. “The loss of Lowell was just too much for her to bear.”
So instead of a party, her family and friends instead gathered to celebrate her in a different way. With the help of her family, the Rev. Cindy Maybeck prepared a fitting eulogy entitled “From Grief to Gratitude.”
In it, Maybeck called on those gathered to “honor Lucille, a quiet soul, with our own brand of gentle love and service.”
Besides Catherine and her daughters, Lucille leaves her brother, Gene Hendrix, and her sister, Pat Grant of Dublin, Ga.; three great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by siblings Jewel Snead, Willie Mae Warnack, Hazel Rogers, Wilma Selman, Mildred Sutherland, J.D. Hendrix, Roy Hendrix, Harold Hendrix and Bobby Joe Hendrix.