Geraldine Claire (Bolduc) O'Halloran

Geraldine Claire Yvonne Bolduc O’Halloran

 

Geraldine was born on April 21, 1919. She is the eldest daughter of Ernest and Ernestine Bolduc. She was a daughter, sister, wife, mom, cousin, a grandmother and a friend.

 

She passed away, January 24, 2018. We will all miss her very much.

 

We have a life time of great memories and stories of Gerry (Mom) to reflect on and share.

 

A few remembrances to share:

The Family

Gerry loved being with family and as she described it, seeing or being with her own!

Married to Dad, Ed O’Halloran and had 3 children (Ed, Janet and Bob). We lived downstairs from her Mom and Dad (Mere and Pere) and there was always a big family meal at holidays. One holiday upstairs, the next downstairs and then next at Uncle Tom’s house. Gerry starting Xmas shopping the day after Xmas and bought gifts, wrapping paper etc. at sales all year and hid them away until the holiday season. She helped to take care of Pere, Mere, and Nana when they were getting along in years and in suffering health.

 

The Nurse

Gerry was our mother and she was a nurse by profession. She was a lifelong nurse, in hospitals, emergency rooms, and finally in Industrial nursing. She attended nursing school at the Waltham Hospital and I can always remember her in a white uniform and polished white shoes. As a nurse and a mom, she was good in an emergency. One time, my finger was slammed in a closing car door and when the pressure of the bruise was too much she relieved the pressure much to my horror and pain and finally, relief. This was also at 7am in the morning, I will always remember.

I remember neighbors coming by with cuts and small injuries for her to fix them. We, my sister Janet and brother Ed and I never went to the doctor’s office for shots, because she would bring them back from the doctor’s office and administer them to us herself. She would always say, that the shots didn’t hurt, I am good at getting shots today because of that experience. When someone was sick and or hurt she always knew what to do.

Cooking

Though she grew up in the era of pressure cookers, Gerry was a good cook and had some specialties. These are a few of her best:

• Potato Salad; really tasty (not sure what it was that made it soooo good).

• Baked stuffed quahogs; a Cape Cod classic

• Lasagna; always had an extra in the freezer, just in case.

• Fish chowder, really good

• Good meat loaf; it has been a long time since I have had meatloaf

• Tortiere, French Canadian classic, she gave pies as Xmas presents

• Apple Pie, a favorite, always

 

Arts and Crafts

Gerry had talent, though did not use it all the time, I remember her art and craft phases. She had a long ceramic phase, we got all kinds of things from ashtrays, to ship’s captain statues, to frogs and even a ceramic figure of Rudi, her mini-schnauzer.

The cake decorating phase was especially delicious. The main memory were the doll cakes. A small dolly (not Barbie but similar), and the cake as the dress. Always a stand out.

She liked to paint though we did not see as much of that as we could have.

 

Then for Xmas presents, she made what seemed like hundreds of gift bags, sewing all of them from big to small sizes, we still use many of these today.

 

She and my Dad grew up (mostly) in Watertown and graduated from Watertown High School. Lifelong Massachusetts residents, they loved Cape Cod and later in life had many great winters in Venice, Florida.

 

Gerry lived a great life, loved and was loved-by her family.

We will miss her very much!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                   

 

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