Agnes Mary Hurley

Agnes Mary (McGrath) Hurley was born on October 17, 1929 in Boston, Massachusetts to parents Joseph and Bridget McGrath. She grew up in Milton and was the eldest of six children (Joanne, Patricia, Janice, Stephen, and Eugene) whom she loved and cherished very much. Growing up, Agnes loved music and dance and learned to tap and play the piano. She was extremely intelligent and skipped a grade in school, graduating high school at the age of 16. She had a group of lifelong friends that coincidently consisted of two Aggies, two Claires, and two Jeans. It was obvious that she had a wonderful, happy childhood based on the stories she would tell. She was so proud of her father and would often say that her mom was her best friend.
As a young adult, she moved to Washington DC with her sister Joanne. During this time, she worked as an office manager alongside famous astronaut, John Glenn. If it weren't for her smooth running of the 'ship', man may not have later orbited the earth. ߘŠ Agnes had so many happy memories of her time in DC. She would often tell stories about going to the beach, lunch at the oyster bar and fashion. She said that every time you bought a dress, you also bought matching shoes, purse, gloves and hat – the good ol' days!
While in Washington DC, she met the love of her life and future husband Paul Morton Hurley. Agnes and Paul married and had five children: Shaun, Tammy, Michael, Kim and Bonnie. Paul was in the air force and they lived in Puerto Rico, Maine and California. Shortly after Bonnie was born, Paul was diagnosed with myelofibrosis and died, leaving Agnes widowed with five young children ages 5, 4, 3, 2, and 10 months. The hardest chapter of her life was about to begin. In a time when women were not the breadwinners or heads of the household, she had to go back into the workforce and raise her children. She rose to the occasion and was a strong, determined women who persevered. She was a wonderful, loving mother, and she provided for her children as well as giving them a happy childhood. She made holidays magical (best decorated house on the block at Christmas) and established wonderful traditions such as: going to the tree farm on Thanksgiving weekend to cut a fresh tree, Sunday drives after church for ice cream (sometimes to Tahoe), and hamburger and beans and the Lawrence Welk show on Saturday nights. She was a huge sports fan and instilled that love in her children, taking them to baseball games (when the Red Sox were in town), hockey games (when the Bruins were in town) and always watching the excitement on TV. She developed a love of the ocean as a child and took her kids to the ocean as much as possible. She would swim laps for what seemed like forever in the ocean and at the community pool. She was always encouraging and supporting her children's activities, whether that was team mom for the baseball team, swimming lessons and swim passes, traveling to the parades for band and drill team, or driving to the skating rink every Friday night. By now, Agnes had developed into quite the piano player and would play at events for the Kiwanis Club. Aside from her children, playing piano was one of the great joys of her life.
As her children grew up and left the nest, she met the second love of her life (lucky her!), Donald Crandall. Donald entered her life when her youngest child was 16, and they lived happily for 35 years. Donald was kind and considerate and loving, bringing Agnes many years of joy. Agnes' children provided her with A LOT of grandchildren and she had so many happy times with those precious little ones. Agnes loved road trips, and she and Donald embarked on many, many trips; across the country back to Massachusetts to see her family, to Minnesota and Colorado to see his family, and many places in between. Donald preceded her in death in September, 2015.
Agnes had her share of hardships and happiness. She was so strong and was pretty incredible. In the end, it really was a wonderful life!