Barbara Welsh Healey, 99, a Elementary Teacher
By Collin Nash, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
Mar. 27–Like the daffodil, a symbol of hope and the official flower of her native city, Meriden, Conn., Barbara Welsh Healey lived a long, full life that extolled nature’s gifts and the joy of life’s simplicities.
Besides teaching, Welsh Healey’s numerous loves included music, the ocean, family celebrations and friends, said her daughter, Barbara Ring, of Cambridge, N.Y.
Her life as educator behind her, Welsh Healey moved in 1967 from Manhasset to Florida. She died there of natural causes earlier this month at Lourdes-Noreen McKeen Residence in West Palm Beach – three months shy of her 100th birthday.
“She was a very social, fun-loving person,” her daughter said.
Welsh Healey’s long career in the classroom spanned generations – from teaching kindergarten through sixth grade in a one-room school in Meriden to substituting for more than a decade at Munsey Park Elementary School in Manhasset, where she lived for more than 20 years.
Born to William R. Welsh and Mary Ford, she was one of 15 children. Welsh Healey graduated from Meriden High School and after that from the New Britain State Normal School’s teacher certification program.
She went on to teach first grade in the Meriden School District.
In addition to her daughter, she is survived by her son, Richard Healey, of Huntington Beach, Calif.; her sister, Elizabeth Veillette, of Chatham, Mass.; seven grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren; and two great-great-grandchildren.
A memorial service is scheduled for April 22 at St. Patrick’s Roman Catholic Church in Cambridge.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Lourdes-Noreen McKeen Residence, 315 Flagler Dr., West Palm Beach, Fla. 33435.
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Copyright (c) 2006, Newsday, Melville, N.Y.
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