… Agfa/Compugraphic and Scripps-Merck; 82
TEWKSBURY - Surrounded by family who loved her, Mrs. Pearl B. (Gichun) Lewis, age 82, died peacefully on Friday evening, Feb. 20, after a long illness. She was the beloved wife of the late Joseph E. Lewis, who died in 2008.
Born in Cambridge on May 18, 1932, Pearl was the youngest of nine children of the late John and Martha (Juce) Gichun, Russian immigrants who met at the boarding house her mother ran near Boston. Later they would move to a farm in Woburn, raising the pigs that she’d tell her grandchildren amusing stories about. After graduating from Woburn High in 1950, she married and started her family in East Cambridge before moving to Tewksbury in 1957. Eventually they would add on to their house to include their youngest daughter and her children, making their home the center of the extended family for decades.
In addition to raising her four children, Pearl worked for Compugraphic/Agfa in Wilmington in the quality inspection department before retiring from Express Scripps-Merck pharmaceutical company. She was a communicant of St. William’s Church and, in her later years, was an active member of Tewksbury’s Senior Center, where she loved playing Bingo with her friends. Once widowed, she moved to Summer Place in Chelmsford and became known there as a member of the “Giggle Gang” –the table with all the laughter during dinner. When her health started to decline, she moved to Sunny Acres in Chelmsford, where she often could be found smiling and laughing (and heckling) with staff and other residents. Whether she was sitting by the ocean along the New England coast that she loved or spending time with her family, she always had a frank and outspoken way about her that friends and family alike will remember with a chuckle.
She leaves four children, Barbara Grondine of Lowell, Donna Curtis and her husband Drew of Trophy Club, TX, Joseph E. Lewis Jr and his wife Amy (Oades) of St. Augustine, FL, and Nancy Hill and her husband Wayne of Nashua, NH (formerly Westford, MA); ten grandchildren. Brandy Grondine, Philippe Grondine, Jennifer Curtis, Sam Curtis, Joseph Lewis, Sarah Lewis, Tom Gilbert, Jay Lewis, Katee (Hill) Chamberlain & Natalie Hill. She also leaves many nieces, nephews, greatnieces/nephews, and great-greatnieces/nephews.
She was predeceased by her brothers and sisters; Peter Krawcyk, Anna O’Donnell, Jenny Chojnowski, Alex Gichun , Helen Freitas, Walter Gichun, Sophie Giles, & Mary Beranger.
A Memorial Service will be held on March 28, 2015 from 1-4pm at Tewksbury Funeral Home, Corner of 1 Dewey and 975 Main Sts. (Rte. 38) TEWKSBURY CENTER, Ph. (978 or 800 in MA) 8512950. Memorial donations to The Wish Project in Lowell (thewishproject.org/donate) will be appreciated. Visit tewksburyfuneralhome.com