Elizabeth L. Toohey

08/30/2001

Elizabeth Louise Toohey, 76, of 12 Woods Drive died early yesterday morning at North Adams Regional Hospital, where she had been admitted Sunday. Born in Newton on June 18, 1925, daughter of Edmund and Bertha Gary Phelan, she graduated from Sacred Heart High School in Newton Centre and from Simmons College's school of library science in Boston in 1946. She was director of the Adams Free Library for nearly 30 years, from 1963 until her retirement Aug. 31, 1992. Before that, she was an assistant librarian in Needham and Providence, R.I. She was also a supervisor of children's library activities at Robbins Library in Arlington for several years. She had resided in Adams since 1977. Mrs. Toohey was a communicant of the Parish of Notre Dame-St. Thomas. She was a member and past vice president and president of the Charles River Library Club; past corresponding secretary, vice president and president of the Western Massachusetts Librarians' Club; past secretary of the New England Children's Librarians' Round Table; and a member of the Massachusetts Librarians Association, the Adams Study Club and AARP. She enjoyed square and round dancing, playing bridge and crocheting. She also volunteered for Recording for the Blind. Her husband, Joseph F. Toohey, whom she married Feb. 25, 1960, died Aug. 19, 1988. The last of her immediate family, she leaves three nieces and six nephews. The funeral will be Saturday at 8:15 from AUGE-PACIOREK-SIMMONS FUNERAL HOME, 13 Hoosac St., Adams, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial celebrated at 9 in St. Thomas Aquinas Church by the Rev. Daniel J. Boyle, pastor of the Parish of Notre Dame-St. Thomas. Burial will follow in Bellevue Cemetery. Calling hours will be Friday from 4 to 7 at the funeral home. Memorial donations may be made to the Adams Free Library through the funeral home.

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