Mary Lou Sirois

Mary Louise Sirois, Mary Lou to her friends and family, passed away on April 28, 2025. She passed peacefully surrounded by her family (who will continue to love her to the moon!)

She had just turned 87 on the 2nd of April 2025. I will do my best to honor her by writing a short story about her life! Please bear with me!

Mom was born in Boston Massachusetts in 1938. Her very loving and kind parents, Harry and Christine McGachie (pronounced Ma-Gay-Hee) were very unconventional for their time. As such she had a most unusual upbringing!

Her dad served in the Army in WW2 when she was very young. He was most fortunate to come home to his wife and daughter! He became a professional student, as an example, he literally passed the Bar Exam 7 times stating it was fun to take! These were not but just a few degrees he held! He could also play a mean piano! Mom would say that she was skipped over by her father's musical talents and would joke about not being able to carry a note!! Harry unfortunately passed when Mary Lou was in high school...

Now her mother Christine was just as impressive! She chose to work and was extremely accomplished in her own right! She worked directly for the renowned Dr. Sidney Farber. He was the inventor of chemotherapy, working tirelessly on finding a cure for children's cancer.

Christine (Mary Lou's mom) was by his side at every step, keeping the Dr. very organized and assisting him with his many projects! Mom would go to the hospital often from when she was a small child. She became fascinated by not only his work but the work of her mother. When the Jimmy Fund Cancer Research Foundation was built my mom Mary Lou laid the f first brick to that building! How amazing is that!?

Fast forward to Mom meeting my dad, Joseph Roland Sirois! They were married twice! They first eloped, and a year later were married in the Catholic Church. They had a beautiful ceremony with all their family and friends to celebrate with them!

That's where I come into the picture. My name is Christine, and I am their first born, (Mom said that I was not named after my grandmother, that she just loved the name Christine! She would say "Just don't tell Nana because she thinks I named you after her!" LOL). Then 3 years later, on Christmas Day, my brother Eric was born. (Yes, Mary and Joseph had a baby boy on Christmas Day! It was in all the papers!)

They were very much in love. In 1974, Mary Lou's beloved husband Roland (his preferred name) died in a tragic skydiving accident... life as she knew it was about to change. Her beautiful mother, my Nana, died a year later.

Mom needed a change and moved us all to Florida. Looking back, I can't imagine losing the father of my young children and my mother in such a short time! She was a very brave and strong lady!! She was not alone though...she became very close to the Skydiving community. Those folks became our new family! Never to be forgotten! Mom had a few different careers she was most proud of, she was a Trust Officer for Barnett Bank, and then went on to work for Dr. Irving Kolin, a fantastic psychiatrist specializing in childhood schizophrenia. She was the office manager and was also a drug Study Coordinator. She excelled at this, and it became her passion! The apple does not fall far from the tree after all!

I think if you were to ask her what she is most proud of, she would tell you that it is her children and granddaughter Victoria. (Okay, it's most definitely her granddaughter!) LOL She had the best relationship with Victoria (Tori to her friends) and they could literally spend hours on the phone talking about everything!! Mom would always tell her she needed to read more! If you knew my mom, you knew she went EVERYWHERE with a book!!!

My beautiful mother Mary Lou told us in the hospital that she wanted a party. So, with that in mind, please join Me, and my husband Jimmie, my daughter Victoria along with my brother Eric as we will do just that! Everyone who knew and loved her is invited to come and celebrate her life!

We will hold services for her at the Carey-Hand Colonial Funeral Home in Orlando Florida. The address is 2811 Curry Ford Rd. Orlando Florida 32806.

The gathering is from 11:00am-1:00pm, Service will be held in the Funeral Home Chapel and will start at 1pm. I am still figuring out the after event, but I will update as I know more!!

Thank you for allowing me the honor of telling moms story. Of course, there is so much more to this special soul! I could keep going but that will have wait for the service!!

Please be prepared to share stories of mom! She loved stories!!!

See you then!!