Maureen M. Baptista
Crusader Paper Company Controller
TEWKSBURY: Maureen M. (McBrine) Baptista, age 64, a resident of Tewksbury passed away at the Lowell General Hospital-Saints Campus on Sunday, August 27, 2023 from the effects of a 14 year battle with Metastatic Breast Cancer.
She was the beloved wife of Edward P. Baptista, with whom she would have celebrated their 37th wedding anniversary on October 11, 2023. She is a fiercely proud mother of her 3 beautiful children: Brian, Matthew and Sarah.
Born in Quincy on April 13, 1959, she was the daughter of Robert J. McBrine, who survives her, of Shirley and the late Elizabeth C. (Hennessy) McBrine.
Maureen was raised in Quincy until 1968 when her family moved to Shirley, MA. She attended local schools and graduated from St. Bernard’s High School located in Fitchburg, MA in 1977. Maureen spent many summers while in high school working at the local amusement park, Whalom Park as a ride operator, which she has said was always her favorite place to work. Her so called “claim to fame” from Whalom Park was the day the band The Cars rented out the park to shoot a music video and she got the lead singer Ric Ocasek sick on the Twister.
Following graduation, she attended Merrimack College, where she received her Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting in 1981. During her time at Merrimack College, Maureen was part of the basketball team and participated in the accounting club. She finished in the top 5% of her class. In 1981 during her senior year, Maureen interned at Crusader Paper Company, formerly J. J. Levis Paper and continued her career there for the next 43 years where she left as the Controller.
In her spare time, she enjoyed spending her time with her family especially on her sibling’s annual trips to Stowe, Vermont which was dubbed with the nickname Stowe-Palooza and watching the Game Show Network nightly with her husband and children where they would complete with the competitors and try to yell out the answers first. Maureen enjoyed attending a multitude of concerts with her daughter including her favorite artist Carrie Underwood and attending many ABBA tribute concerts. She was an avid baseball fan who enjoyed watching the Boston Red Sox. She is known in her family to always be the first one standing up at the bottom of the 8th inning to belt out Sweet Caroline.
In addition to her husband and father, she is survived by her three children, Brian E. Baptista, of Leominster, Matthew R. Baptista, of Tewksbury, and Sarah E. Baptista, of Tewksbury: her sister, Ellen Cullen and her husband Russell, of North Andover: three brothers, Dennis McBrine and his wife Kathy, of Hebron, CT, John McBrine, of Houston, TX, and Kevin McBrine and his significant other, Llewellyn Sherrod, of Groton. She leaves many nieces, nephews, and extended family members.
Calling hours are Thursday, August 31st, from 4 to 8 p.m. at the Farmer & Dee Funeral Home, 16 Lee Street, Tewksbury. Her funeral procession will begin on Friday, September 1st, at 10:30 a.m. at the funeral home, followed by her Funeral Mass at 11:30 a.m. at St. William’s Church, 1351 Main Street, Route 38, Tewksbury. Interment at Tewksbury Cemetery, 172 East Street, Tewksbury. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to Breast Cancer Research Foundation, 28 West 44th Street, Suite 609, New York, NY 10036 or online at www.bcrf.org