Virginia Morgan Sennott was the matriarch of a sprawling Irish-American family of Greater Boston, a tribe of Sennotts and Morgans knitted together through her great love for her five children, her fourteen grandchildren, her eight great grandchildren and her dozens of nieces and nephews and all of their families. Also woven into that tapestry of life are many close families and friends who all loved Virginia, or Ginny as she was always known, for her infectious laughter, her excitement in the success of others and for her wonderfully welcoming and warm spirit.
Ginny died peacefully Monday, October 24th at the Royal Megansett Nursing Home in North Falmouth surrounded by her five children who had kept a vigil in her final days, assuring her how much she was beloved by so many and thanking her for all she had done to share all of her love, faith and generosity which brought the family together. She was 92.
Her husband of 32 years and the love of her life, Robert F. Sennott, died in 1981. She is survived by their five children: Robert F. Sennott Jr and wife Susan (Krohn); Richard and wife Laura (Olsen,) Ellen McGillivray, Mark and wife Carol (Mazocca) and Charles and wife Julie (Klapper.) Her memory lives on through her grandchildren, including: Robert’s three children, Sam, Sarah and Robert III; Richard’s daughters Erin and the late Meghan; Mark’s three children, Nicholas, Tara and Kaitlyn; Ellen McGillivray’s two children, Katie and Matthew; and Charles’ four sons, William, Riley, Gabriel and Jackson. The most recent additions to the family include eight great grandchildren: Madeleine, Guthrie, Aiden, Liam, Benjamin, Connor, Jacob and Alaia.
As the last of her generation on both the Morgan and Sennott sides of the family, Ginny was a dedicated keeper of the flame for the family’s history which she shared through a gift for storytelling. A deep and joyous faith guided her through life from her earliest days growing up in the parish of St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church in Chestnut Hill to raising her five children in the parish of St. Theresa’s in Sherborn, where her funeral Mass will be celebrated. She guided and advocated for her children through love and patience. As a young widow, she successfully leaned into a professional life in real estate at the firm her husband founded and served as President of Century 21 Westward Homes in Wellesley Hills. In 1994, she retired to Cape Cod where she lived in North Falmouth and then Mashpee for the last three decades.
Ginny loved her network of close family and friends and it was hard to go anywhere without running into clusters of her loved ones and acquaintances. She cherished her friendships, from her roommate at college, Mildred, who married her brother to her best friend of more than 80 years, the late Gloria McMurrough, to her dear friend, work colleague and co- conspirator, the late Paula Dunn. She never really stopped making friends right up to the end of her life, particularly the new friends she made in the Royal Megansett nursing home where she was cared for by an amazing staff and where her life came to an end. Through all the years, she always had a big heart, a contagious laugh, extraordinary warmth and a tremendous gift for telling a story. She wrote a memoir in 2019 in a hard-cover book that told her life story titled “Through the Lace Curtain: An Irish-American Story of Family, Faith, Love and Laughter.”
Visiting hours will be held at the George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home, 477 Washington St., (Rt.16) Wellesley on Wednesday, Nov. 2 from 4:00-8:00pm. Her Funeral Mass will be held in St. Theresa of Lisieux Church, Sherborn on Thursday, Nov. 3 at 11:00am. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Interment in Pine Hill Cemetery, Sherborn with a reception to follow.