Virginia Cyr
By Mike Cyr
In the early morning hours of today, August 15, 2005, the world lost a wonderful lady. For those of you who did not know her personally, Virginia Cyr was a truly beautiful person. She was loved and respected by hundreds of people. She was a woman who, while she did not know it, was a pioneer. She succumbed to Post Polio Syndrome. PPS is where polio returns to claim those that escaped its grasp early in life.
While a young girl of 4 ½, Virginia was stricken with polio during the New England Hurricane of 1938. She was one of those kids you see the pictures of who were in an iron lung. She received one of this country’s first muscle transplants in her left leg. She was victorious over that first bout. Blessed with a tenacious attitude, this little girl worked her way out of the iron lung; endure thousands of hours of physical therapy at a time when the professionals were making the procedures up as they went along. She was able to shed her leg braces until the extra strain of carrying children forced her to resort to one full-length brace.
While she couldn’t go out and see the world, she brought the world to her. She amassed a large collection of 78’s – of the Big Bands. She listened to a world at war over the radio. Amazingly, she had an autograph book that contained the names of movie stars like Don Amiche, athletes like skater Sonja Henie, the ENTIRE 1939 Boston Red Sox (with a rookie named Ted Williams) and even Eleanor Roosevelt. How did she get these? She would ask someone who would be at an event to get the autograph. In many of the cases, like Mrs. Roosevelt, she mailed her book with a letter requesting that they please add their name to her collection and mail it back.
She went on to graduate from high school in 1948. It was an amazing feat for a young woman of immigrant parents who had been crippled most of her youth. She was one of the first in that group of “independent” women. The ones we now call a “Working Full Time Mom.” She married, had three boys, and endured a far less than ideal marriage until the late sixties, when she became one of the first single working mothers.
Realizing the need to be at home for her boys while still earning a living, she became the local news correspondent for the Milford Daily News. She had no training, no fancy degree in journalism, just an old Olivetti-Underwood typewriter, a pile of newsprint, the phone and her car. A grouchy old news reporter- editor named Nick Tosches, showed her the ropes and guided her during the first few months.
She went on to not only report on the Garden Club and births and marriages, she began to cover local politics and other local more serious stories. In a time when “Handicapped Accessible” was not even thought of, she would fight stairs to get to a news story. At times, she would send me. What a way for a politician get ambushed! Give a quote to a 13 year old and it ends up in the next day’s paper!
She loved doing human-interest stories. The longer the story, the better it was. Mom was paid by the inch, not the hour. Many times people would call her and thank her for the job she did. Other times those she caught in the act would curse her! She continued to write for the News for over 30 Years.
Her kids were her life. All of her work and energy went to that end. We got the best part of this wonderful person that so many people know and respect.
She is survived by three sons, five grandchildren and two great grandchildren and hundreds of friends. Mike Cyr, August 15, 2005.
Many articles on this site were written for the Milford Daily News by Virginia Cyr. You can find them by going to the homepage and entering her name in the site search box.
More by Mike Cyr Working with Draper Looms
Wake and Funeral
By Mike Cyr
This year marks the twentieth anniversary of the passing of our mom, Virginia Cyr. As The Town’s long-time news reporter/correspondent, I’m sure many people would have various reminiscences of Virginia and the work she did as “the 20th Century Town Crier” for Hopedale.
When Dan contacted me about showcasing mom’s page within the Hope 1842 Page, I thought I would share with you her wake, funeral and how it showed what a huge impact she had with her 30 plus years of sharing everyone’s life events and news.
Her passing was in August of 2005. My two brothers and I were scattered about. I had been living in Florida for some time. Alan was at Fort Dix in New Jersey preparing to go to Iraq and Tom had moved to Portland Maine. But like with so many things in life, the story did not begin with the events of August 2005.
A few years before her death, mom gave me a call. She was in a panic because the State of Massachusetts had informed her that she was going to be losing her Medicaid and Food Stamp Benefits because net worth had crossed the threshold to receive benefits because her Colonial Penn (yes, the $9.95 plan) Whole Life “Final Expense” Policy had too much cash value. Fortunately, I am in the Insurance Business, which is why I got the call. I explained to her over the phone that she would be fine if she was no longer the “Owner” of the policy, and we would just need to transfer the ownership and then she would go back to being poor enough to continue to get the assistance she needed. I offered to come up and we would go over to Buma Funeral Home and the ownership of her policy could be put into a group “Cambridge Trust”, with Buma being the beneficiary. At the same time, she could tell the folks at Buma just what she wanted done for her wake and funeral.
This incident with the Life Insurance Policy and the Commonwealth proved to be a Godsend when August 2005 came, and her time here had ended. With her three sons scattered about, final arrangements would have been a nightmare. It also gave mom complete control!
She was quite specific. She picked out her casket, she also was quite adamant that she should be buried with her leg brace on. You see she was one of the 1930’s Polio Kids and had to have a leg brace in order to walk, so her brace had become part of her personage. She had a Dusty Rose Dress that she wanted and in addition to that she wanted to be buried with her Chihuahua, Blonzie, who at the time was on her last legs and her other request was to have a Fifth of John Jameson Irish Whiskey so that when she got to heaven, so she could have a toast with friends. One final instruction was that she had already written her own obituary (like any good News Reporter) and that upon her death, I was to deliver it to The Milford Daily News and to inform them that after Thirty plus years of writing for the news, if they were going to charge to put her obit in the paper they could come right down to Buma’s and as she put it int true Virginia fashion, “Kiss my ass”.
During Virginia’s final week, I was called to come home as her time was short. I had just finished a trip to San Francisco and Sacramento for business and changed my flight back to Tampa to Boston. Tom was called in from Portland. Alan was a different story. We called his National Guard Unit still in MA to speak with someone to be able to get Alan back. The Sargent I was speaking with tried to bush me off by saying they have all kinds of calls from families trying to get a family member out of going to Iraq. When I explained quite firmly that this request was for the impending death of his mother and once the funeral was over they we would be happy to return him to the US Army and that if he wanted to draw this out, there were a few family members on active duty who had the rank of Full Bird Colonel and I would make sure that we would get a few of his stripes removed. Regrettably Alan was not able to get back to say his goodbyes but did make the Wake and Funeral.
My first mission was to deliver her Obituary to The Milford Daily News Office. I recognized the woman who greeted me and introduced myself. Producing her self-authored Obit, I also delivered the message, “Virginia informed me to tell The Milford Daily News that if, after her years of service to the paper, if they were going to charge for her Obit placement, they could kiss her ass.” Her response was a warm gentle smile and reply, “That sounds EXACTLY like Virginia.” She asked if I would share my cell phone number in case the paper needed to reach me. An hour or so later, I got a call from one of the reporters. Explaining to me that he was assigned to write a background piece for mom. We spent almost half an hour on the phone. Nick Tosches, although retired, contributed to the article. When the News came out, the article ended up being placed front page, below the fold, the spot for very important news. A tribute to her impact to people in the area.
For me, her wake was awe inspiring. Family and close friends showed up early but once the Viewing Hours started, a steady stream of people started arriving. The Upton Police Department, where Alan was the Night Sargent arrived and after paying condolences to Alan and Tom and me, they stayed and provided traffic control and direction due to the size of the traffic. Former and current State and Local Elected people were in attendance as were so many people who interacted with her for family events such as Births, Marriages, College Graduations, and various celebrations both public and private.
One visitor was Eddie Condon. Eddie and I were friends in school and after I moved from the area, Eddie remained close to the family and was close to mom. Edward is a talent artist and many years ago, was working on a painting that had various cartoon characters. He borrowed mom’s Alvin The Chipmunk stuffed figure. He had promised to return Alvin to her and on every visit the first thing mom would ask was “Where is Alvin?”, to which he would always promise, “Next Visit”.
Well Eddie arrived with Alvin in tow, sharing how Alvin came into his possession and that he just had to return it now. So, into the casket Alvin went to join Blonzie, mom’s leg brace and the fifth of Jameson Whiskey.
The next day, we gathered for final family time with mom, the closing of the casket and trip to Sacred Heart Church in Hopedale. The scene was one of quiet contemplation. As the undertaker began the process of closing the casket, mom, through Alvin, gave us one final message. Unbeknownst to us, Alvin had a sound chip in him and as the lid was closed, it jolted Alvin into action! From within the closed casket came a Christmas Greeting of Alvin and The Chipmunks singing, “Christmas, Christmas Time is here….. I just want a Hula-Hoop.
With that, the solemnity of the moment was broken by mom’s final message through Alvin, Christmas and Hula-Hoops, she was somehow telling us everything is fine, and she arrived into the next realm.
Sacred Hart Church was filled with so many people whose lives she had touched. Her burial was in the Hopedale Village Cemetery, with many of her closest friends bidding a final farewell.
Many articles on this site were written for the Milford Daily News by Virginia Cyr. You can find them by going to the homepage and entering her name in the site search box.
More by Mike Cyr Working with Draper Looms