Obituary: Maurice Hennessy, Worked at GenCorp

Obituary from Conte Funeral Home.

Maurice Hennessy, 89, died at his North Andover home on Sunday, February 1, 2015. The son of the late Robert and Irene (Hill) Hennessy, he was raised in North Andover, where he was a member of St. Michael’s Parish and attended Johnson High School. In 1942 he entered the U.S. Navy and served in the Mediterranean and Pacific Theaters. He was among the groups of American military assigned to serve in Nagasaki at the end of the war.
Maurice lived his entire life in the North Andover neighborhood settled by his grandparents in 1900. During the flood of 1936, he was evacuated from his grandparents’ house by going over the railing of the second floor porch into a canoe. Many decades later, while in his eighties, he was evacuated from his house again from the rising waters of the Shawsheen River. After his marriage to Marguerite Greenwood, he and his father built a house for the new family with their own hands. When their land was taken for the construction of Rte. 495, he moved his house and family a few blocks south. He was retired from GenCorp in Reading. In his retirement he enjoyed visits from his family, fishing, gardening, and watching the birds and wildlife that visited his yard.
Maurice was the widow of Marguerite Greenwood Hennessy. He is survived by sons Robert of Reading, Donald and his wife Maria of Newton, NH, Patrick and his wife Andrea of North Andover, John and his wife Diane of East Haddam, CT; daughters Susan and her husband Edmond Labore of Cherryfield, ME, Sharon of Amherst, Lynn and her husband William Mazurenko of Haverhill; 13 grandchildren, including Joshua Hennessy with whom he lived, six great-grandchildren, and sister-in-law Constance Greenwood of Andover, as well as many cousins, nieces and nephews. He was the father of the late Karen Hennessy and Sandra Lacolla, both formally of North Andover.

Family and friends are invited to calling hours on Wednesday, February 4, from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Conte Funeral Home, 17 Third Street, North Andover. A funeral mass will be celebrated on Thursday, February 5, at 10 a.m. in St. Michael’s Parish in North Andover. Burial will follow in Ridgewood Cemetery, North Andover. Memorial contributions may be made to the charity of one’s choice. For online condolences please visit our website at www.contefuneralhomes.com