Obituary of Dorothy I. Donahue

Dorothy I. (Kelley) Donahue, owner of Donahue Furniture in Burlington, passed away at Sunrise Assisted Living in Burlington on Friday evening, December 9, 2016. The beloved wife of the late Harold Donahue, she was 89 years old. Dorothy was born, raised and educated in Boston. She was one of five children born to the late Frederick and Alice Kelley. Dorothy would meet her future husband Harry Donahue through a friend. They married in 1948 and were married for 67 years. Dorothy was a wonderful supportive wife to Harry. She helped him found his first business in 1954 Donahue Trucking. While working with Harry in the business she also worked as a Telephone Operator. In the early 60’s they expanded the company to include the sale of R.V.’s. Then in the early 80’s the company became Donahue Furniture. Donahue Furniture continues to be a family owned business located on Wall Street and run by their children. Dorothy and Harry had their own R.V. and traveled throughout the United States, Canada and Mexico. They also traveled to destinations throughout Europe and the Caribbean Dorothy’s greatest joy was her family. She was a loving and caring mother and Nana. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for her grandchildren. When her grandchildren were younger she helped to care for them while their parents worked. Dorothy was a fun Nana to be around and her grandchildren always loved to visit her as she always had a treat or a toy for them. She had a nurturing personality always caring for others. Dorothy will be remembered as a sweet, loving and caring woman who always gave of herself to others. Dorothy was the beloved wife of the late Harold R. “Harry”. She was the loving mother of Linda Kelly of Lowell, David & his wife Pat of Westford, Nancy Arsenault & her husband Paul of Burlington and Patricia Donahue of Wilmington. Sister of the late Mary, Russell, Frederick & Charles Kelley. Beloved Nana of Michael & Benjamin Donahue of Westford, Matthew Arsenault of San Jose, CA, Amy Arsenault of Burlington, Cody, Joshua, and Kaitlyn Crampton all of Wilmington. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Margaret’s Church, 111 Winn St., Burlington on Tuesday, Dec. 13 at 10:30 a.m. Relatives and friends respectfully invited to attend. Burial will follow in Chestnut Hill Cemetery, Burlington. In lieu of flowers memorials in Dorothy’s name may be made to Heartbeat, 113 Winn St., Burlington, MA 01803. Arrangements under the direction of the Edward V Sullivan Funeral Home, BURLINGTON. Nancy and Amy’s eulogy to their mom and nana: It’s no surprise that our mom and nana’s most important thing in her life was her family. She spent her entire life caring for everyone around her and we are grateful to have spent so many happy years with her, and have had so many fun memories. She would always act goofy to make everyone laugh. She was warm, caring, always put everyone else first, and was genuinely the sweetest person we’ve ever known. Our mom and nana taught us how to love and show compassion. We can't talk about Nana without mentioning Ga. Nana and Ga had a wonderful life together for 67 years. They travelled the world, had a family, built a business together, and most of all they took care of each other, and they are both with us all everyday. ————————— There are so many classic nana stories, and Nancy and Amy both have memories to share to-day. Nancy’s Memory: One day, while mom was returning home from a shopping trip, she was cruis-ing down 128 and passed a cop with someone else pulled over. Needless to say, she was easy to spot in her raspberry pink “barbie” mercury cougar. She looked in the rearview mirror and no-ticed blue flashing lights. She didn’t think twice about it as she continued home. She turned onto her street, into the driveway, and proceeded to pull into the garage. It wasn’t until she was parked in her garage that she realized that the cop was still behind her….and sitting in her driveway. She proceeded to say to the cop, “Are you after me? I thought you could only pull people over with red lights, and yours are blue.” Needless to say, she got a ticket. Amy’s Memories: Since my grandfather passed away we brought nana to our house a lot. I’ll al-ways cherish this past year, and spending many weekends with her. We would drink piña cola-das and snack on nachos. She loved watching hallmark movies, so we would watch those, and we would try to make her laugh by watching funny movies. Sometimes nana didn’t find our mov-ie choices as hilarious as we did. She loved ice skating and so we thought it would be entertain-ing to watch Blades of Glory. I’ll never forget as we watched Will Ferrell and Jon Heder figure skating as a completely absurd story line. Nana was on board with Will Ferrell being a joke, but Jon Heder dressed in a peacock outfit had nana fooled and believing we were watching a seri-ous professional ice skater. As the actor pranced across the ice dressed as a peacock, nana kept repeating “no he’s a real ice skater I’ve seen him before”. I’m not sure what figure skating she’s been watching all these years, but I’d like to know now. Nana also loved to sweep. I can’t think of nana without thinking of seeing her outside clearing her driveway full of leaves or pine needles. Whether it be the middle of a hot summer day, or during the winter clearing snow off her walkway, nana would be there with her broom sweeping away, trying to keep her driveway clean. One of my favorite pictures of her is when she was in the grocery store, posing with her new broom. She was dressed up in a matching top and purse, with her red bead necklace on. She always loved a stylish outfit, a great hair-do and the right broom. Dorothy was a caring and tender sister, wife, mother, and grandmother. She lived a full and long life and she is once again reunited with her brothers, her sister, and her beloved Harry. We are everything we are because you loved us.