Teacher, skier, golfer, avid Red Sox fan
NORTH READING — Barbara Ann (Breslow) Locke, 87, of North Reading, and formerly of Reading and Lynn, died peacefully at her residence on Aug. 16, 2014 with her family by her side. She was the devoted wife of William E. Locke with whom she shared 59 years of marriage. Mrs. Locke was blessed with a caring and compassionate soul and joie de vive. Born in Lynn on June 22, 1927, she was the daughter of the late Joseph and Gertrude (O’Donnell) Breslow. She was an avid Red Sox Fan and beach goer and an accomplished pianist. As a young girl she scored many Red Sox games while listening to the radio with her father and attended World Series games in 1946, 1987 and in 2014. She was a 1945 graduate of St. Mary’s High School, Lynn, where she was salutatorian and senior class president.
Mrs. Locke graduated from Emmanuel College in 1949. She was vice president of the Musical Society and sang several solos with the Boston Pops summer orchestra at Symphony Hall. Her love for music ranged from classical to country western. She continued a long O’Donnell family tradition as a teacher and was an elementary school teacher in Lynn for several years before leaving to marry and raise a family of six children. She was certified in special education and taught for 20 years at the Dutile School in Billerica. Barbara was an avid skier and golfer. She was a member for more than 50 years at the Thomson Country Club where she spent many years a volunteer with the junior golf program and volunteered at many other golf events. including the 1988 US Open and the 1999 Ryder Cup.
In 1993, at the age of 67, she was selected by the Earthwatch organization to participate in a two week scientific expedition at the National Forest in northern Ontario. She was active in a variety of community activities. She served as a volunteer at St. Theresa Church doing needlework. She loved to knit and in 2010 she organized a knitting project producing more than 800 scarfs for participants of the New Hampshire Winter Special Olympics at Waterville Valley. She participated in many charitable events and supported numerous other charitable causes and scholarship funds.
Mrs. Locke was a devoted mother and a dedicated wife and true partner to her husband Bill for 59 years. She had a special gift of helping others and being there for them. Her family and friends will miss her cheer and ever present smile. Besides her husband, she is survived by six children, William E. Locke Jr. and his wife Kim of Acton, Anne Marie Tobin and her husband James of Lynnfield, Susan Gallagher of Amesbury, David Locke and his wife Mimi of Manchester–by–the–Sea, Timothy Locke and his wife Beth and Mary Snow and her husband John, all of Winchester. Mrs. Locke is also survived by her grandchildren, Haley and Kelly Gallagher, Abby Tobin, John, Brigham and Cameron Snow, Peter and Christiana Locke, Teddy and Brendan Locke and William Locke; her cousin, Dorothy Bemis and numerous nieces and nephews. She was the sister of the late Paul Breslow and the grandmother of the late William Gallagher.
Her funeral was held on Wednesday at 10 a.m. from the Conway, Cahill–Brodeur Funeral Home in Peabody, followed by a funeral Mass in St. Pius V Church in Lynn. Burial was in Laurel Hill Cemetery Reading. Expressions of sympathy may be made to St. Mary’s School Memorial Fund, 35 Tremont St., Lynn MA 01902 in her memory.
