Mary Lou (Burroughs) Powers

LUDLOW - Mary L. (Burroughs) Powers, 94, of Ludlow, passed away at LifeCare of Wilbraham on Wednesday, July 17, 2024. Born in Worcester to Henry and Ruth (Hudson) Burroughs, Mary spent most of her life in Holden before moving to Ludlow to be closer to her daughter’s growing family.

Mary leaves her beloved daughter, Sherry Powers of Ludlow, and her loving granddaughters, Jessica Shyloski of Cambridge and Emily Shyloski of Norwood. She also leaves her brother Arthur Morrow and his wife Theresa Morrow of Holden, and her sister-in-law Brenda Morrow, formerly of Holden. Mary will also be forever remembered and missed by many, many treasured nieces, nephews, and friends who became family, especially Loretta “Sam” Fuller of Wilbraham and David Whitney and Liissa Carroll of Palmer and their daughters Katy Whitney of Seattle and Libby Del Greco (Robert) of White Plains, NY. She was predeceased by her husband Stanley Powers, her son-in-law Joseph Shyloski, and her siblings Fred Lawton, Doris Kuzian, Lorraine Przygoda, Mazie Walker, Shirley Rogge, Marjorie LeBlanc, Geneva Morin, and Ronald Morrow.

Mary worked for many years as an occupational therapy assistant at Rutland VA Hospital. She and her devoted husband Stanley raised Sherry in a big house with rooms full of books and lilacs in the yard in Jefferson and spent time every summer on their beloved Cape Cod.

Mary’s kindness, loyalty, unconditional acceptance, along with her “unusually good” apple pie, created a sense of comfort and belonging for everyone who knew her. Mary opened her home and her arms to anyone who needed it, whether it was a relative stranger, a “friend of a friend” who needed some help, or a teenager who just needed some space. She had an uncanny ability to recognize exactly what you needed and when, whether it was to sleep until noon or to spend a whole day watching the Golden Girls and Murder, She Wrote and eating macaroni and cheese.

Mary delighted in her grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and was never short on updates for you about what everyone was up to and just how cute those kids were getting. If you ever stopped by for a visit, Aunt Mary would pour you a cup of coffee, make sure you noticed that it tastes better when you put the cream in the mug before the coffee, and fill you in on what everyone was up to, and exactly what she thought of it. You never left her house feeling anything but love and connection, even to people you didn’t know that well, because Mary was a connective tissue between everyone she ever met.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Mary’s Church, 114 Princeton St., Jefferson at 11am on Saturday, August 10th with burial following in St. Mary’s Cemetery in Holden. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Dakin Humane Society in Springfield, MA. The family would like to extend its sincere appreciation to the staff at LifeCare of Wilbraham for their care and grace for Mary and her family. Funeral arrangements are under the care of Miles Funeral Home, 1158 Main St., Holden.

To share a memory or offer a condolence, please visit her tribute wall.