Lillian A. Walsh

Lillian A. Walsh, 95, of Northampton, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and friend to all, passed peacefully Friday, May 30, 2025, strong in her faith and her love for God, surrounded by her loving family. Born March 12, 1930, in East Hartford, CT, Lillian was the daughter of the late Bartolo and Elizabeth (Casella) Aloisi. The family moved to Florence and Lillian attended Florence Grammer School and Northampton High School, where she was well known for performing acrobatic tumbling during half time at football games. She graduated with the class of 1947.
Lillian loved to dance, so it was most fitting that she met the love of her life, Denis Walsh, at a local dance. He winked at her and her heart melted as they began their “dance through life” together. Lillian trained locally with Mooney’s Dance School and with the Dance Educators of America in New York City. She taught dance from her home, where each Saturday morning, the house resounded with the echo of the tapping shoes of over 50 neighborhood girls.
Before having children, she worked as a telephone operator for New England AT&T. After her children had grown, she returned to work as a switchboard operator at Smith College for 17 years.
Lillian was very busy with her family and community, from volunteering with Brownies and Girl Scout troops and the Northampton Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary as well as playing bridge with the Cloverdale Bridge Club. She enjoyed cheering at endless swim meets and baseball games, as well as taking long walks through Look Park with her husband Denny (of 63 years). Lil and Denny wintered in Sarasota, Florida. She enjoyed arts and crafts and was a member in both the Tripar Estates Choir and the New England Canada Club.
When Denis passed away in 2016. Lillian moved to Sarasota full time with her daughter Doreen and was grateful for her company and loving care.
To the delight of her family, they recently moved back to Florence, to the house her father had built for Lil and Den some 75 years ago. Lillian worked many hours hammering the cement from the bricks of a demolished building, which were used to help create their cherished hearth and home.
Lillian is predeceased by her beloved siblings Bart Aloisi, Edward Aloisi and Alice Brown. She leaves her five loving children, Katherine Walsh (Tony) of Ipswich, Doreen Walsh of Florence, Diane Pedevillano (Frank) of Poughkeepsie, NY, Denis J. Walsh, III of Cataumet, MA and Shirley Suter (Mike) of Cincinnati, OH; her 13 cherished grandchildren Lauren (Skylin), Daniel (Laurel) Jessica (Spencer), Lisa (John), Karen(Chuck), Brent( Erin), Joseph (Kara), Troy(Courtney), Jackson (Sophie), Jennifer, Michael, Laura and Meghan; her great grandchildren Jack and Byron, Adam and Galen, Olive, Enzo and Massimo, Liam, Layton and Luke, Gio (with another on the way) and Tristen and Alphonse. She also leaves many nieces, nephews, great nieces, and nephews and her brother-in-law, Robert Walsh of Orlando, Florida.
We will feel forever blessed by Lillian’s warm smile, her keen interest in each family member and her sharp memory for the smallest details in the lives of those who were fortunate enough to cross her path. Her grandchildren will remember sitting with “Grammy” while she told stories of growing up during the Great Depression (her own grandmother scraping together dimes so she could go to the movies) or trips to Fenway with a friend to wave to legends such as Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio as they walked into the ballpark. She helped teach them their prayers, sewed quilts that said, “sweet dreams” (used faithfully each night to protect from bad dreams), made everyone’s favorite spaghetti and meatballs, but then insisted on bibs (“even though we were way too old”). She sang every nursery rhyme, welcomed endless play in the cellar and back yard and, of course, provided an abundance of tootsie pops and Tollhouse cookies on every visit and hours riding the Look Park train.
Lillian spent long hours in prayer, saying daily rosaries for anyone who was in need of hope and guidance - our conduit for “ask and you shall receive.” She instilled in us her belief that everything happened for a reason- “God’s will be done.” She will live in the hearts of so many, as so many have lived in hers. We are comforted knowing she now rests in the arms of her beloved Denny, no doubt beginning their dance through eternity.

The family will receive extended family and friends for calling hours at Ahearn Funeral Home, 783 Bridge Rd., Northampton on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM followed by a Liturgy of Christian burial at 11:30 AM in the Annunciation Chapel, 87 Beacon St., Florence.

Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery.

Donations can be made to Hospice or the charity of your choice.