Florence Spatrick

Florence “Fay” Spatrick died on December 21 of complications from pneumonia at the age of 97. Born in 1917, Florence was raised in Chelsea by her parents Maurice and Sarah Margolskee. One of three siblings, a younger sister died in infancy. Her elder sister Gertrude, to whom she was very close, died in 1990.

Her husband Bill, who predeceased her by two years, described her as “the smart one,” and indeed, he got no argument on that score. Bill was smart with a kopf for figures, but Fay was smarter. She ran their family, home, and finances, with love, firmness, and an economy learned in the Depression. Like everything Florence did, she managed everything competently and with no fuss.

Fay was an avid reader with a curious mind. In their fifties, she and Bill enrolled at Salem State College where Fay graduated magna cum laude. She had a great interest in her native Chelsea, and co-organized the Chelsea exhibit for the Jewish Historical Society of the North Shore.

A shy and reserved woman, Florence was more inclined to listen than to talk about herself and only when they became adults did her children realize how much their mother accomplished in her twenties before she married. She sewed wedding gowns for Priscilla of Boston, studied dance with the noted Martha Graham collaborator Anna Sokolow, and performed with her company. A WAVE in the U.S. Navy during World War II, she trained in Milledgeville, Georgia, served at a submarine base in New London, Connecticut, and later worked at a Veterans Hospital in Brighton.

As sensitive and artistic as she was practical, Fay enjoyed painting – her favorite painter was Utrillo – and her oil paintings won ribbons in local fairs. In her 80s she would drive to Boston by herself to visit the Museum of Fine Arts. She also loved classical music and took great pleasure in working in her garden for hours each day.

Above all, she loved dancing. Pictures of her and Bill on the dance floor – they often went ballroom dancing – show a lovely, graceful woman whose joy is unmistakable. It’s no exaggeration to say that until her late 80’s when dementia began to appear, she walked as quickly and lithely as a young girl.

Gracious and kind, Fay never spoke ill of anyone. She had a special knack for gift giving, because she was sensitive to people’s tastes and what they could actually use. She will be loved and cherished always by her children Susan Dinkin and her husband Richard Dinkin; Phyllis Spatrick and her husband Chester Clarke; and Alan Spatrick and his wife Kaj Wilson. She will be loved and cherished by her grandchildren, Aaron Dinkin, Gabrielle Dinkin, Joe Dinkin and his partner Lizzy Warren; and Diana Clarke.

Services at Congregation Sons of Israel, Park and Spring Streets, Peabody on Wednesday, December 24, 2014 at 10 AM. Interment at Maple Hill Cemetery, Peabody. Memorial observance at her late residence through Friday at noon, Sunday and Monday. In lieu of flowers, expressions of sympathy may be made in her memory to Congregation Sons of Israel, P.O. Box 702, Peabody, MA 01960 or to the Alzheimer's Association, 480 Pleasant Street, Watertown, MA 02472. Arrangements by Stanetsky-Hymanson Chapel, Salem. For online condolences, please visit www.stanetskyhymansonsalem.com