Pauline A. (Ashness) Gallagher

Mrs. Pauline A. (Ashness) Gallagher, of Dracut, formerly of Waltham and Weston, died Sunday, September 3, 2023 in Lowell General Hospital. She was 92.

Pauline was born in Waltham on April 26, 1931, the daughter of the late Herbert P. and Anna L. (Vahey) Ashness, and was a 1949 graduate of Saint Mary’s High School in Waltham.  She attained her bachelor’s degree in education from Framingham State College in 1953 and later earned her master’s degree in the same subject from Boston College. 

She taught for twenty-eight years in the Waltham public schools at the Henry Whittemore School, the Thomas Plympton School and at Central Junior High School before retiring.  Pauline belonged to the National Educators Association, the Massachusetts Teachers Association, the Retired Educators Association of Massachusetts, the Retired State, County and Municipal Employees Association and was also a longtime volunteer with the RSVP program at the Plympton School. 

She had been a lifelong communicant at Saint Mary’s Church in Waltham and her faith was the foundation from which everything that she accomplished grew. To those that knew her she was one of the members of every parish who are the ‘blood and the bone’ of the Church.  Grace, dignity, kindness and charity were her constant companions.  At Saint Mary’s she was a longtime C.C.D. teacher and lector and had been a member of the Mother’s Club and the Ladies Sodality.

In addition to all of her accomplishments the roles that Pauline enjoyed best were being a wife, mother and grandmother extraordinaire.  She was extremely proud of her children and grandchildren and rarely missed one of their academic, community and sporting events.  She was also an enthusiastic sports fan and an avid reader.

The wife of the late John P. Gallagher († January 25, 2006), she leaves her children, Maureen A. Taddeo and her husband, Stephen, of Dracut, John P. 'Jay' Gallagher, Jr. and his wife, Judith, of Tyngsborough, Timothy P. Gallagher and his wife, Dianne, of Merrimack, New Hampshire, Andrea M. Hoffer and her husband, Douglas, of Pepperell, Matthew D. Gallagher and his wife, Kara, of Simsbury, Connecticut and Mark C. Gallagher and his wife, Jennifer, of Kennebunk and Goose Rocks Beach, Maine; her grandchildren, John P. Gallagher, III and Erin Gallagher, Andrew and Jeffrey Gallagher, Alison and Caroline Hoffer; Kaleigh, Corey and Kevin Gallagher, Elizabeth and Jacqueline Gallagher; her sisters-in-law, Claire Ashness of York, Maine and Mary Joyce of Onset and many nieces, nephews and their families.

She was also the sister of the late Herbert P., Jr., Walter J. and Bernard W. Ashness. 

Family and friends will honor and remember Pauline's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20), Waltham on Friday, September 8th from 4 to 8 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Mary's Church, 133 School Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery, Waltham. 

Memorial donations may be made to the St. Vincent dePaul Society, St. Mary's Church, 133 School Street, Waltham, MA  02451.