Edna Teresa DeFigueiredo

Edna Teresa de Figueiredo passed away peacefully at Neville Place in Cambridge on July 20 2025.

She was warm-hearted and known for her gregarious nature. As our eldest sister, Edna was also very caring and held a deep sense of family, spending a large part of her 90 years as “second-mother” to her siblings. Edna also led a balanced life. While she was house-proud and passionate about cooking and sewing, she also loved entertaining at home, socializing with her many friends and travelling abroad.

Edna was born to Michael Joseph Figueiredo and Herminia (Sequeira) Figueiredo on August 27, 1934 in Zanzibar, Tanzania, where she attended St Joseph’s Convent school before moving in 1950 to Dar-es-salaam (Tanzania) with her family, and later to Nairobi (Kenya). In 1969, Edna emigrated to America and settled in Boston MA.

After completing secretarial college, Edna worked as a Personal Assistant for W.B.Kerr and Caltex in Nairobi, and as a medical secretary at Brigham and Women's Hospital and Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

Edna’s wanderlust took her to such faraway countries as India, Zanzibar, Kenya, Spain, The Netherlands, Norway, England, Ireland and China.

After she retired, she volunteered as an ESL tutor for several years at the Watertown Library impacting immigrants from Armenia, Russia, Thailand and many other countries.

She moved into Neville Place Assisted Living in Cambridge in 2017 and spent these last 8 years participating in their many exciting offerings including drumming, chair yoga, sing-alongs and cooking workshops. Neville Place became her second home. She appreciated all the staff and residents that became part of her “extended” family. She was loved by them and we are told that she impacted their community in ways she wasn’t aware of. Danielle, her caregiver, the last couple of years brought light and laughter into her life as did Edna to hers and Danielle’s daughter, Milania, whom Edna dearly loved and chose to rename Gabriella.

Edna is survived by her siblings, Teresa, Joe and Myrtle. She was preceded in death by her brothers Antonico, Lionel, Ivo and Xavier, and her sister Osla.

She will be deeply missed by her siblings, her brothers and sisters in law, her nieces and nephews and their children and her many god children.

The funeral mass for Edna will be at St. Luke’s Parish, 132 Lexington St, Belmont, on Monday morning, July 28 at 10:00 A.M. 

Edna’s family requests that in lieu of flowers,you may donate to your charity of choice. 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Edna Teresa DeFigueiredo, please visit our floral store.