SPRINGFIELD – Merilda R. (Martineau) Gamache, 87, of Springfield, was Called Safely Home on Monday, August 13, 2012. She passed into Eternal Life at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield surrounded by the care and comfort of her loving family and her caregivers. She was born in Saint Michel, Province of Quebec, Canada on June 30, 1925, a beloved daughter of the late Joseph and Graziella (Gagnon) Martineau. She was raised in Canada and moved to the North End section of Springfield in 1955. She was last employed as a housekeeper for several area families in Springfield and Longmeadow and had previously worked at the former Carter’s in Springfield and the Chicopee Undergarment Company. She was a longtime communicant of the former Saint Thomas Aquinas Church and Our Lady of Hope Church. She was currently a communicant of Mary, Mother of Hope Church in East Springfield. Besides her parents, she was predeceased by: her beloved husband, Roger A. Gamache, who was Called Home on August 25, 1980; her dear brothers, Michel, Rosario, Alphonse and Charles Martineau; and her dear sisters, Marguerite Remillard, Pauline Larrivee and Marie Blanche Chabot. She leaves her loving sisters-in-law, Germaine Martineau of Saint Michel, P.Q., Canada and Solange Martineau of Middletown Springs, VT; and her many cherished nephews and nieces. Her family would like to thank her wonderful caregivers from Wingate at West Springfield and Mercy Medical Center for the excellent care that they provided Merilda during her illness. Her funeral will be held on Friday morning, August 17, 2012, beginning at the St. Pierre – Phaneuf Springfield Chapels (413-737-1177), 7 Chapin Terrace, Springfield, MA 01107 (funeral home will open at 8 a.m.), followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 9:30 a.m. in Mary, Mother of Hope Church, 840 Page Boulevard, East Springfield, MA 01104. Her burial will follow the Mass at Calvary Cemetery, 292 Hampden Street, Chicopee, MA 01013. Her family will receive friends at the funeral home on Friday morning, August 17, 2012, from 8 a.m. until 9 a.m. before the Mass. Memorial donations may be made in her memory to the charity of the donor’s choice.