Westborough – Florence M. (Howard) Sullivan, 95, of Westborough, formerly of Shrewsbury and Worcester, died Wednesday, March 21, 2018 at the Beaumont Nursing and Rehab Center in Worcester from complications from the flu. She was the wife 60 years of the late James P. Sullivan, who died in 2009.
Born in Worcester, she was the daughter of the late Martin and Johanna (Donahue) Howard.
Florence was a graduate of Commerce High School, Worcester City Hospital School of Nursing and Assumption College, B.S., Ms. In life, she followed a path less followed, starting as a public health nurse for the City of Worcester, later working as a social worker for the town of Shrewsbury. The Socio-medical Director for Framingham, Middlesex area Project Head Start, and later as a school adjustment counselor in the 1970s and 1980s at Ward School and Calvin Coolidge School in Worcester.
She is survived by her children, Jo-Anne S. Lema and her husband Luis E. of Apex, N.C.; Barbara-Jean B. Sullivan of Ann Arbor, Mich.; Mark James Sullivan and his wife Mary Rose of Columbus, Ohio; and Martha Sullivan-Eberhard and her husband Gerard J. of Shrewsbury. Her grandchildren include Maria T. Lema, James L. Lema, Brendan C. Sain, Colleen M. Sain, Katherine A. Sain, James M. Sullivan, William D. Sullivan, John P. Sullivan, Patrick L. Eberhard, Caroline A. Eberhard, and the late Luis P. Lema. She is also survived by four great-grandchildren and many nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Walter Howard, Dorothy LaPointe and Genevieve Glavickas.
Family and friends will celebrate Florence’s life Saturday, March 24, from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., at the Chiampa Funeral Home 〜 The Sumner House, 5 Church Road, on the Common, Shrewsbury Center, followed by her funeral Mass at 1 p.m. at St. Mary’s Church, 640 Main St., Shrewsbury. Burial will follow at St. John Cemetery of Worcester.
In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy in her name may be made to Autism Resource Center of Worcester or Summer STEM and Leadership Camp of Girls Inc. in Worcester or the WCAC Head start.
