Obits: 99 Year-Old, Former Shrewsbury Employee, First Female Custodian

Shrewsbury — Jeanne C. (Brodeur) Gannon, 87, of Shrewsbury, died Friday, February 8, 2013, in her home with her loving family by her side.

Jeanne was a long-time dedicated employee of the Town of Shrewsbury. She started her career with the Town in the Treasurer's Department and later worked for the Light Department for many years, retiring in 1995.

Northborough — Margaret T. "Peggy" (Baggett) Szostak of Northborough, formerly of Methuen, died Feb. 7, 2013 at home with her family at her bedside.

Peggy was the first female custodian at Methuen High School and worked there for almost 25 years before retiring in 2000. Everyone at MHS fondly called her Ma. Her co-workers held her in such high esteem that when she took a leave in 1993 to care for her daughter Kathy, a former MHS star athlete who was dying of brain cancer, they donated vacation days so she would not lose any pay.

Westborough — Richard B. Smith, 84, of Westborough, passed away on Sunday, February 10, 2013 at the UMass/Memorial Healthcare- University Hospital in Worcester.

During WW II he served with the U. S. Army attaining the rank of Corporal. Smith was employed as an assembler and later manager at Tufts Machine Shop in Westborough for 40 years prior to his retirement.

Shrewsbury — Dorothea E. Hoar, of Quincy, formerly of West Concord and Winchester, died Wednesday, February 6, 2013 in the William B. Rice Eventide Home. She was 99.

She was a longtime biology teacher at Regis College, St. Joseph at Emmitsburg, Maryland and later in the Boston Public School system.