Jean Lorraine (Dutra) Saunders died on June 10, 2024. She was born on July 19, 1934 in Somerville, MA to the late Vital “Victor” and Mary (Cunha) Dutra. Her father and his parents, as well as her maternal grandparents, were immigrants to Boston from the Azores in the late 1800s.
Jean was raised on Norfolk Street in Cambridge, and she attended the Wellington School where she made life-long friends: Mary, Delores, Flossy, Lorraine, Bernadette, Carolyn and Flo, among others. Jean also attended Cambridge Rindge High School.
In 1954, she married her supervisor at Better Homes mail order service, Paul Crane Saunders, and she was subsequently moved to another department in the company. They lived in Boston for several years and then moved back to Norfolk Street to be near Jean’s mother and siblings. They had two children.
The family moved to Bedford in 1968 to be near Paul’s family. Jean lived on Fayette Road for 50 years where she raised her children and befriended many neighbors. From 1980-2008, Jean worked for a pharmaceutical company on D’Angelo Drive in Bedford.
Jean was a long-time parishioner of St. Michael’s Church in Bedford and later often visited St. Paul’s Episcopal Church with her daughter and grandchildren. She enjoyed her swimming pool, vegetable and flower gardens as well as Sunday dinners with family and friends, travel, holidays, long drives with her husband, dining out, visiting family, reading magazines, shopping, the occasional casino visit and spending time with her three grandchildren.
In her later years, she very much enjoyed lunches and camaraderie at the Bedford Council on Aging.
In 2018, she moved to Carleton-Willard Village where she enjoyed bingo and watercolor painting. Jean is pre-deceased by her husband Paul, nine siblings with whom she was close, and several nieces and nephews.
She is survived by her son Paul Crane Saunders, Jr. and his wife Paula (Kelly) of Madison, Maine; her daughter Nancy Lynn Franks and her husband Edward of Billerica; grandchildren Kelly Jean Saunders, Tyler Crane Kupfrian and Brooke Irene Kupfrian as well as several nieces, nephews, friends, and former neighbors.
Visiting hours will be in Shawsheen Funeral Home, 281 The Great Road, Bedford from 4 to 8 p.m. on Monday, June 17, 2024. Burial will be private.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Bedford Council on Aging, 12 Mudge Way, Bedford, MA 01730.
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