Walda Connell

Walda (Murphy) Connell, age 84, passed Saturday, January 28th, 2023 in the loving company of her family. A Fall River and Westport Harbor, MA native, she was the daughter of the late Walter Leo and Constance (Feeney) Murphy.

Walda graduated from the former Sacred Heart Academy in Fall River in 1956 and Trinity University in Washington DC in 1960. She continued her academic pursuits, receiving her master’s in education from Leslie University in Cambridge Massachusetts. She began her 40 year journey in Education with her loving husband, the late John David Connell Jr.

She is survived by one daughter, Kate Connell; three sons, D. Michael Connell and his wife Lucia Connell, Martin A. Connell and his wife Kelsey Connell, and Matthew D. Connell and his wife Donna Connell; eleven grandchildren, Michaela Connell, Julie Avelar, Sean Connell, Adam Connell, Ryan LaStorm, David Connell, Mary-Kate Connell, Jack Connell, Celeste Connell, Quinton Connell and Walker Connell; one nephew, Leonard Phelan and his wife Melissa Phelan; one great niece; and two great nephews. She was the mother of the late John D. Connell III, and sister of the late Constance Murphy Phelan of Fall River.

Walda was a teacher for a short time in the Fall River school system, but most of her 40 years of dedicated teaching were at the Gardner School in Swansea, MA. After retirement, she was employed for 8 years at the Sylvan Learning Center in Dartmouth. She extended her devotion to education by teaching CCD for 35 years at Our Lady of Fatima Church in Swansea, MA and Saint Catherine of Sienna Church in Little Compton, RI. She also distributed the Eucharist to patients in Charlton Hospital for a number of years. Her participation recording for the blind and dyslexic in Cambridge, MA was done in partnership with her husband once a week for several years. She was the Yearly Survivor Representative for Massachusetts General Hospital, in which capacity she walked in the race for the cure, sponsored in Washington D.C by Bristol-Myers Squibb And the Susan Komen foundation.

Her funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 11, 2023 at 10:00 AM in Holy Name Church, 709 Hanover St., Fall River, MA. Relatives and friends are invited. Donations in her honor may be made to the American Cancer Society, 30 Speen St., Framingham, MA, 01701. Burial to take place in Our Lady of Fatima Cemetery, Little Compton, RI. For directions and tributes, www.waring-sullivan.com.