Mrs. Claire Cole

Claire (Kerivan) Cole, formerly of Holly Ave., Lynn, died on Tuesday, May 11 at the age of 93, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s Disease. She was the wife of the late Mayor of Lynn Albert Cole who died in 1966.

Born in Lynn on April 10, 1917, she was a lifelong resident of Lynn, the daughter of the late John I. and Josephine T. (Brennan) Kerivan. She attended Sacred Heart School and graduated from Lynn Classical High School. She also attended Burdett School of Business.

After finishing school, she worked at the General Electric Company in West Lynn. She then worked at Lynn City Hall as the Secretary to Mayor Cole. They later married after he left office. She also worked in the City Treasurer’s Office. After raising her family and following her husband’s death, she returned to work at City Hall, retiring from the Tax Collector’s Office in 1980.

Claire was a member of the Lynn Retirees Organization, and a former member of the Lynn City Hall Employees Union.

For the past 30 years, she was a communicant of Our Lady of the Assumption Church, Lynnfield, and was a former parishioner of St. Pius V Church, Lynn, where she did volunteer secretarial work. She was a former member of the Saint Pius V Sodality and, many years ago, was an organist at Sacred Heart Church, Lynn.

She leaves two sons and daughters-in-law, Joseph Cole, Principal of Hood School, and his wife, Maura, and James Cole, retired Principal of Drewicz School, and his wife, Susan all of Lynn. She leaves five grandchildren, Jennifer, Christopher, Kevin, Patrick, and Michael Cole, as well as three great-grandchildren Emilee, Kaitlyn and Payten Cole , one brother, James Kerivan of Wichita, Kansas, and many nieces and nephews.

She was the sister of late Rev. William C. Kerivan, Mary ‘Eileen’ Hagan, and Alice ‘Sis’ Fraher.

The funeral will be held on Friday at 9 AM from the Cuffe-McGinn Funeral Home 157 Maple Street, Lynn. Funeral Mass in Our Lady of the Assumption Church Lynnfield at 10 AM. Burial in St. Joseph’s Cemetery. Visiting hours Thursday 3-7 PM. Those who wish may make donations in her memory to a charity of one’s choice.