Ida M. Cabral

Ida M. Cabral, age 92, passed away peacefully surrounded by her family on Wednesday, May 24, 2017. Ida was the wife of the late Manuel P. Cabral who passed away in 2009. She was a wife, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, aunt and a dear friend to many.

Born on Christmas Day in 1924, Ida was the daughter of the late Antone and Laura (Smith) Cabral. At the age of 16, she entered the needle trades. There were no benefits. Workers received one week vacation a year and were paid about $8 a week. The United States had not yet entered World War II when Ida took up the cause of workers’ rights. It would be a campaign she would fight until the day she died. She was a member and president of the ILGWU local 178 for many years.

Ida had a long relationship with the Kennedy’s, the first family of Massachusetts. She worked for John and was overjoyed by his victory in 1960, only to be saddened by the horror of his assassination three years later. Ida had been invited to the Kennedy Compound in Hyannis many times and was well-known to the Kennedy clan. Ida was the ILGWU activist and longtime Democratic State Committee-Woman. Ida always insisted that until she takes her last breath she will always be a union activist and a loyal Democrat. Ida will always be known as a “warrior for workers’ rights.” She has rubbed elbows with the powerful but her heart is with the common people.

Ida leaves behind her loving and caring daughter, Susan, with whom she had resided, and son-in-law Tom of Somerset; a son, Ronald J. Cabral, Sr. of Swansea; a sister, Gertrude Sadler from Swansea; sister-in-law Alice Cabral; 6 grandchildren, Thomas LePage, Jr. and his wife Heather Manning LePage, Ronald LePage, Bethany Lopes, Ronald Cabral II and his wife Jere’, Matthew Cabral and his wife Marie, and Brian Moore. Ida has 10 great grandchildren, Brady, Jackson, and Murphy LePage, Alexis Lopes, Drake Manning-Almeida and McKynli, Summer, Sophia, Ryder and Kalvin Cabral; She was the sister of late Edward J. and Maurice J. Cabral.

Her Memorial Service will be on Tuesday, June 6th, 2017 at 7PM in the WARING-SULLIVAN HOME at BIRCHCREST, 189 Gardners Neck Road, Swansea, MA, 02777. Visitation prior from 4:00 to 7:00PM. Relatives and friends are invited. Burial is private. For tributes and online registration: www.waring-sullivan.com