Garnhum, Marguerite M.

Marguerite Mary Garnhum, 79, of Canton, passed away at home June 6 surrounded by her loving family. She was born February 20, 1933, in Canton.

Marguerite’s mother, Julia Josephine Garnhum (nee Cahalane) gave birth to her at the family farm home located at 1201 Pleasant Street. She was the youngest of 10 children (Catherine, Marie, Edith, Catherine, George, Daniel, Charles, John, and Richard) born to Julia (Ma) and her husband, George Brenton Garnhum (Pa). She was a lifelong resident of the town.

Beloved mother of Brenton Martin and his wife, Melanie, of Brockton, and Dana Martin and his wife, Sheri, of Andover. Grandmother of Katherine and Lilyanne of Brockton and Alexandra and Nicholas of Andover.

Marguerite loved to keep active throughout her life and maintained a strong faith in God. During her childhood she worked on the family farm tending to pigs, chickens, and a milking cow. She remembered Pa milking the cow and squirting her in the face as he milked, and also claimed to enjoy running her bare feet through the warm cow flaps in the field. She recalled churning butter with Ma and her sisters. She spent time at the Draper Estate learning to ride, saddle up, and care for horses. While she was employed at Factory Mutual, she was on the 1958-59 women’s bowling league and her team won a first place trophy that season.

She held many positions over the years, having worked at a “5 and 10,” Rainbow Fishline in Canton, Factory Mutual Engineering in Norwood, Rust Craft Greeting Cards lettering department in Dedham, a school bus driver for over 20 years in Norwood, Westwood, and Dedham, worked at Power General in Canton, was a private child care provider for a bit, was a crossing guard for the Stoughton Public Schools, worked as a matron for the Stoughton and Canton police departments, and volunteered her time to pick up and deliver bakery goods to the many senior citizen complexes in Stoughton.

She was a very hard working woman, very loving, strict, and dedicated mother raising her two boys Brenton and Dana. When she set her mind to do something she could accomplish anything. She worked on her own vehicles, maintained and remodeled her childhood home by re-roofing, re-shingling, installing new windows, hardwood floors throughout, some electrical wiring and plumbing. She often said she was simply a caretaker of Ma and Pa’s home.

In more recent years, she enjoyed going on organized bus trips. She visited Niagara Falls, and Nova Scotia where her father grew up, and some local New England attractions. She traveled to Ireland with her sister Edith and brother-in-law Marcel Richard to meet and stay with relatives that still live there. She visited her mother’s childhood home and church and many other attractions. After the trip she maintained communications with her cousins by phone and in writing and looked forward to a return trip someday.

She discovered an extended family of special friends at the Stoughton Senior Center. She planned every weekday around going to the center to socialize, have lunch, play bingo, watch movies, play Wii bowling, etc. She considered everyone there to be a special friend and member of her family.

A funeral mass was held Saturday morning, June 9, in St. John the Evangelist Church in Canton. Interment Knollwood Memorial Park. Donations may be made in her memory to the Stoughton Council on Aging, 110 Rockland St., Stoughton, MA 02072. Arrangements by the Dockray & Thomas Funeral Home, 455 Washington Street.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Jun 13 2012. Filed under Obituaries. Both comments and pings are currently closed.