Shrewsbury – Doris (Perry) Condon, of Shrewsbury, mother of four, grandmother to six and the devoted wife for nearly 59 years to David A. Condon Jr., died April 11, 2019. She was 84.
Doris was born in Cambridge, daughter of the late Al and Helen (Smith) Perry. After losing her mother the very day she was born, Doris was raised by her father and her aunt, the late Maria (Pereira) Cabral, known to her always as “Vovó,” Portuguese for “grannie.” She grew up surrounded by the Azorean immigrant community of East Cambridge, speaking Portuguese before English, and graduated from Cambridge High & Latin School in 1952.
She was a dental assistant when she met David, also of Cambridge, in 1953. Following his graduation from Boston University, they were married in June 1960. The couple then moved to Springfield where they started a family before moving again and settling in Shrewsbury in 1963.
Born in the Great Depression, Doris was first and foremost devoted to giving her children lives full of opportunities she could not have imagined in her own childhood. She lived to see them travel the country and the world in pursuit of their dreams, while always giving them a loving home to return to. She was, nonetheless, unimpressed by ambition and achievement when it was unaccompanied by humility and compassion. She was far prouder of her children when they were good friends, siblings, cousins and parents than for any worldly accomplishments.
She was long an active parishioner at St. Mary’s in Shrewsbury, a community that sustained her deep faith and gave her many friendships for more than 55 years. In the rare moments when she was not offering her time to someone else, she found joy in her flower gardens, long walks, beach visits on Cape Cod, her constant reading and in following her Red Sox.
She gave one last lesson in quiet determination and humility by confronting Parkinson’s Disease with great courage and dignity, and always without complaint. She passed peacefully surrounded by her family.
In addition to David, she leaves her daughter, Maribeth, of San Diego, Calif.; son David and his wife Cheryl of Upton; son Christopher and his wife Dora Szalai of Herndon, Va.; and daughter Carol and her husband Jeffrey Lourie of Uxbridge. She leaves six grandchildren, Gabriella Lourie of New York City, Isabella Lourie, a student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Shannon and Siobhan Condon of Herndon, Va., and Zachary and Cameron Condon of Upton. She is also survived by her sister, Susan Curry and her husband Richard of Groveland; sister Nancy Ambrose and her husband Clifford of North Eastham; brothers- and sisters-in-law Hubert Gaspar of Ipswich, Raymond and Nancy Condon of Waltham, Mary Cieslik of Waltham, Ann Condon of Burlington, and more than 20 nephews and nieces. She was predeceased by her sister Sandra Gaspar, and brothers- and sisters-in-law Edith and William Stevens, Marie and Everett Fitzgerald, Richard Cieslik and Richard Condon.
Family and friends are respectfully invited to attend visiting hours on Monday, April 15, fromm 4-7 p.m., at the Chiampa Funeral Home ~ The Sumner House, 5 Church Road, On the Common, Shrewsbury Center. A Mass of Christian Burial will be held Tuesday, April 16, at 10 a.m., from St. Mary’s Church, 640 Main St., Shrewsbury. Interment will follow at Mountain View Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
