Obituary of Lenore Thompson

Lenore “Lenny” (Keefe) Thompson of Woburn passed away at Winchester Hospital on April 1st surrounded by her three nieces and nephew. Born in Winchester on April 27, 1936, she graduated from Malden Girls Catholic in 1953, and began working at Hanscom Field. She met the love of her life, Robert “Hoppy” Thompson, a decorated Army veteran, upon his return from the Korean War and they married in 1956, settling in Woburn.

Lenore was a fastidious housekeeper, obsessively organized and avant garde of “farm to table”, passionately gardening every summer to grow bountiful vegetables for her kitchen.  She loved to cook and bake for her family and neighbors at every holiday, preparing delicious cookies and mixed salads that never required a knife. Her sharp wit let no one forget if they ruined a roast or were not up to her highest of expectations.

Sadly, Lenore lost Hoppy in 1993. However, she rose through the ranks of management for Lee Wards (Michael’s) craft store in Woburn for years, being celebrated at retirement for helping to make the Woburn store one of the most profitable in the company.

After retirement, Lenore spent many summers at her second home on Cape Cod. The smell of the ocean and the many raucous pot luck dinners with her Cape friends highlighted her later years. Lenore was also joined by her long-time companion Bill Paine of Stoneham, who predeceased her in 2017.

Lenore also had the gift of another “family”, her caregivers and fellow patients at DaVita Woburn Dialysis, where she underwent multiple dialyses every week for 13 years. Even living with chronic kidney disease, Lenore was fiercely independent, driving herself to all her appointments to her last of days.

Lenore was the beloved wife of the late Robert “Hoppy” Thompson. She was the devoted sister of Joanne Irzyk & her husband J. Robert Irzyk, Jr. of the Villages, FL.  She was the loving aunt of Maura Irzyk Craig & her husband John of Marblehead; Michele Irzyk Mathers & her husband Thomas of Marblehead; Tracey Irzyk Gendron & her husband Gardner of Bedford, NH, and J. Robert Irzyk, III of Danvers. She was the great aunt of Morgan Craig, Ensign Max Craig, U.S. Navy, Lou Craig, Lieutenant Tucker Mathers, U.S. Navy, Savannah Mathers, Gardner Gendron, Jr., Colby Gendron, Jack Irzyk, and J. Robert Irzyk, IV.

Visiting hours will be held at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn St., Burlington on Tuesday, April 4 from 5 to 7 p.m.  Funeral from the Sullivan Funeral Home on Wednesday, April 5 at 11 a.m. Followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at St. Margaret Church in St. Veronica Parish, www.stveronicama.org, 111 Winn St., Burlington at Noon.  Services will conclude with a burial in Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden.  Memorials in Lenore’s name may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, www.stjude.org, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN, 38105.  For online guestbook, and Video tribute see www.sullivanfuneralhome.net