Myra C. Dempsey, 95
NEW MARLBOROUGH, Mass. — Myra C. Dempsey, 95, of Hartsville Mill River Road died Friday, Aug. 14, 2009, at Fairview Hospital in Great Barrington.
Born in Tampa, Fla., on Sept. 25, 1913, daughter of Merton and Caroline Hancock Crisman, she attended schools in Tampa. During the 1930s, she played softball for the Peggy's Girls team, which won the Women's Florida State Championship in 1937. They went on to play in the National League Championship at Soldier's Field in Chicago. She moved to New Marlborough after her marriage.
Mrs. Dempsey was an active member of the community. She was member and deaconess of First Congregational Church in Great Barrington. She sang in the church choir for more than 25 years and was a member and past president of the Women's Guild. She was also a member and past director of the Thursday Morning Club and a former member of the Fairview Hospital Auxiliary. Mrs. Dempsey also was a Red Cross Grey Lady at Fairview Hospital for several years.
She was vice regent of First Resistance Chapter, National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, as well as a charter member and former director of the Sweet Adelines in Pittsfield. She enjoyed playing bridge and was an original member of the Great Barrington Bridge Club for 50 years. She loved her family and cherished spending time with them.
She and her husband, the late Matthew J. Dempsey Jr., whom she married on May 1, 1940, in Dunedin, Fla., died Feb. 2, 1992.
She leaves two sons, Thomas E. Dempsey and his wife, Penny, of Great Barrington and David A. Dempsey and his fiancée, Donna Segalla, of Monterey; four daughters, Carolyn D. Hewitt and her husband, Jack, of Ormond Beach, Fla., Marilyn Cameron and her friend Ray Wilcox Jr. of New Marlborough, Evelyn Vallianos and her husband, Peter, of Monterey and Deborah D. Kniffin of Newark, Ohio; her brother-in-law William F. Dempsey and his wife, Lucile, of Great Barrington; 11 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and many loving nieces and nephews.
She was predeceased by her identical twin, Mary Beers, another sister, Leila Smith, and two brothers, Joe Crisman and Merton Crisman.
FUNERAL NOTICE — Funeral services celebrating the life of Mrs. Dempsey will be conducted on Friday, Aug. 21, at 11 a.m. at Fist Congregational Church in Great Barrington by the Rev. Charles VanAusdall. Burial will follow in Elmwood Cemetery in Great Barrington.
The family will receive friends on Thursday, Aug. 20, from 4 to 7 at Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home in Great Barrington.
Those who wish may make memorial contributions to Fairview Hospital or the Manse Endowment Fund for the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington through funeral home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, MA 01230. Remembrances, memories and reflections may be sent to the family through www.finnertyandstevens.com.