LACONIA ---- Therese Mary Brough, 95, of Court Street, passed away after a brief illness on Tuesday, December 6, 2022, going home to her Savior and Redeemer. She was lovingly surrounded by family and friends. At the time of her death, she was residing at Saint Francis Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Laconia.
Therese was born in Laconia, NH, on February 18, 1927, the daughter of George and Reina (Gouin) Phillips.
She grew up in Laconia with her one brother, Raymond Phillips, and her two sisters, Irene Phillips and Rita Wilkinson. Her father, George Phillips, was a Greek immigrant from the island Mytilene, who first came to America with his dad as a teenager and remained here when his father returned home to Greece. It was from her father that she learned to cook delicious Greek foods that she would always serve to family and friends around the holidays. She had been brought up immersed in both French and Greek cultures. Her father was a past president of the local Greek Orthodox Church. She herself was a very active Roman Catholic her whole life and was directly involved in many church committees during and after her sons attended and graduated from the same French Catholic Sacred Heart School.
She attended and graduated from the French parochial school at the time, L’Ecole du Sacre Coeur. She later graduated from Laconia High School in 1945. Several years later she met and married the love of her life, George Francis Brough. He had earlier returned from fighting in WWII on Iwo Jima as one of the many badly wounded Marines that had survived one of the bloodiest battles the US Military had ever fought. They were each other’s best friend and both raised a family of four sons.
They were so involved in and happily attended every sporting event in which their boys were engaged. Both Therese and George, and their sons, were frequently seen playing golf for years at the Laconia Country Club as their boys were growing up. They also built and frequented a log cabin on Back Lake in Pittsburgh, NH, where they spent most weekends over many summers fishing, swimming, and boating with family and many of their friends from their peaceful spot on the lake.
Therese’s life was filled with the bittersweet, her dearest brother, Raymond Phillips, died young at the age of 54, her niece and Raymond’s daughter Karen died at 33 years old, and one of her twin boys died at 51 years old, all from serious heart conditions. And when George struggled with Alzheimer’s for eight long years, Therese kept to a promise they had both made to each other that they would take care of each other to the point of death there in their own home. She did just that, lovingly caring for George each and every day over the years all by herself until he passed away at the age of 83, in 2008.
Family members include their four sons, Steven (Cindy) Brough, twins, Don and Ron (Amy) Brough, and their youngest son David (Sharon) Brough. Other family members include her grandchildren, (Steve’s sons and daughters) Chris Brough, Heidi Paiva, Katie Lee Fantasia, Erica Brough, and Nick Brough; (Ron’s daughters) Julia Brough and Katharine Brough; (David’s son and daughter) Matt and Allison. Also, she was her happiest surrounded by her many great-grandchildren, nephews, nieces, and dearest friends. Therese’s family wish to thank the entire staff at Saint Francis for their excellent care they provided her.
Per Therese’s wishes, there will be no Calling Hours.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., on Monday, December 19, 2022, at St. Andre Bessette Parish –
Sacred Heart Church, 291 Union Avenue, Laconia, NH, 03246.
A Burial will follow the Mass at Sacred Heart Cemetery, Garfield Street, Laconia, NH.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the New Hampshire Alzheimer’s Association, 225 N. Michigan Avenue, Fl 17, Chicago, IL, 60601.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services and 603Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH, is assisting the family with arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial, please visit www.wilkinsonbeane.com.