SPRINGFIELD – The cycle of life of Claire E. Houlihan,100, ended peacefully on Friday, March 16, 2012 at Mont Marie Health Care Center in Holyoke where she had resided for the past three years. She was born of Irish immigrants, Patrick J. and Catherine M. (Callahan) Houlihan on January 17, 1912, on Tracy Street in Springfield, and had recently celebrated her Centennial birthday with family and friends at Mont Marie. Claire was born at home and with the exception of a few years working for the U.S. Government in Washington, lived in the same house for more than 90 years and was the 2nd eldest of four children. After graduating from the High School of Commerce, and completing two years at Bay Path Institute, she took the Federal Civil Service Exam and began working as a stenographer for the Interstate Commerce Commission in Washington, DC. She later became a career employee of the Social Security Administration, working in Springfield and Holyoke where she retired from in 1967. Claire’s first priority was her family. She sent money home from Washington, DC during the Depression years and later returned home to Springfield to care for her parents, her sister Elizabeth, and her brother Edward who was a Korean War Veteran. She was also predeceased by her sister, Mary (Houlihan) Connor. Claire’s sense of family and community extended to her neighborhood of Liberty Heights, where there is a plaque in Emily Bill Park dedicated in her name for her efforts in revitalizing the park and neighborhood. Claire was a lifelong communicant of Sacred Heart Church in Springfield, and was honored to be one of the first women in the Springfield Diocese to be named a Eucharistic Minister. Claire is survived by a nephew, Russell Connor, of Bonita Springs, FL, and two nieces, Claire Berthiaume of Northborough, MA and Marian Connor of Southwest Harbor, ME; one grandnephew and four grandnieces, including Maureen Bowler and her husband, Brian, of Holyoke with whom she lived with prior to residing at Mont Marie; one great grandnephew and five great grandnieces, as well as two lifelong neighbors and friends, Pat and Anne Bowler of Springfield. Her funeral will be held on Saturday morning, March 24, 2012 beginning at the St. Pierre – Phaneuf Springfield Chapels, (413-737-1177), 7 Chapin Terrace, Springfield, MA 01107 (funeral home will open at 8:30 a.m.), followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in Sacred Heart Church, 395 Chestnut Street, Springfield, MA 01104. Her burial will follow the Mass at Saint Michael Cemetery, 1601 State Street, Springfield, MA 01109. Her family will receive friends at the funeral home in the Chapin Chapel on Friday, March 23, 2012 from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Her family has requested that in lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her memory to Mont Marie Health Care Center, 36 Lower Westfield Road, Holyoke, MA 01040. For our online obituary and guest book, please visit www.stpierrephaneuf.com