Shrewsbury – Lois Genevieve (Wing) Boylan passed away surrounded in love on April 3, 2024 in Worcester, MA. She was 76 and taken far too soon from this world. Her final weeks were spent in her home in Shrewsbury with her best friend and husband of 55 years, Joseph Robert Boylan, and her daughters, Andrea Jo Sanderson and Sarah Dale Boylan Cavanaugh with frequent visits and calls from her grandchildren, siblings, and cherished friends.
Lois was an avid gardener and instilled that love in both her daughters. She was a master baker and nearly everyone who ate her homemade pies declared her pie crust “the best they’d ever had.” She was meticulous with numbers, loved to dance, was actively involved in her church and most who joined her on her daily walks struggled to keep up. She was a competitor—from her high school days as captain of her basketball team to fierce games of double solitaire with anyone brave enough to play with her. She rarely raised her voice unless her beloved Bruins were playing. She loved the sun and was happiest outside soaking it in. She always had a cup of tea brewing and believed you could never have too much whipped cream.
Above all, Lois held the heart of her family. She was adored by her high school sweetheart and love of her life Joe. Her daughters were blessed to know her not only as a mother but also as a beloved friend. Lois cherished her 8 grandchildren, Caleb (24), Peter (21), Noah (19), Elisabeth (18) and Abigail (16), children of Andrea and Mark Sanderson and Nathaniel (18), Adah (13) and Norah (10), children of Sarah and Sean Cavanaugh. Lois poured herself into these children.
She was the quintessential “Nana” who never tired of playing, believed in a steady diet of ice cream, and taught everyone how to chew gum by the ripe old age of two. She thought nothing of jumping in the car for a quick weekend trip to Virginia to catch Sanderson ball games and dance recitals, and the Cavanaugh kids would often inform their parents that Nana was on her way over to fetch them after they had called her directly to arrange impromptu sleepovers. Her greatest sadness when she learned of her illness was that she would not be able to see them grow up. Her family’s greatest comfort after her passing is catching the glimpses of Lois that run through all of her grandchildren.
Raised in the Northeast Kingdom in Island Pond, Vermont, Lois was the daughter of Marion and Dale Wing. She and her mother were the best of friends throughout their lives. She graduated from Brighton High School in 1965 and Bliss Business College in Lewiston, ME in 1967 and was class valedictorian for both. She married Joe in 1968 and they lived up and down the east coast before settling in Shrewsbury, MA in 1983, where they meticulously tended their home and built deep relationships with several special neighbors.
Lois was actively involved in her church, the First Congregational Church of Boylston, and held the members of the LBS close to her heart. In addition to her husband and her daughters and their families, Lois will be remembered by her two brothers and their wives, Gerry and Barbara Wing and Alan and Virginia Wing, whom she remained close to all her life, and several dear friends and neighbors that became family, including Andrea Conner, Ruth Davis, and the Moss and Forts families.
