Adrienne M. Warias

As children, whenever we drove by 229 Elm Street in Amesbury Massachusetts, My sister Dale and I, along with any other children who happened to be in the car, were required to bow our heads. My Mother referred to this address as "The Shrine" because it was where she was born on October 6, 1924 . Our Mother, Adrienne Marguerita Bourque Warias, Dienne, to most, insisted that "The Shrine" was a holy site and we should act accordingly. Such was my mother's wonderful sense of humor.!

Dienne, the daughter of David O. and Adrienne Brochu Bourque, was the sixth and last child born to my grandparents . David, a mechanical engineer during Amesbury's heyday, when it was known as the "Carriage Capital of the World" and for its early automobile body manufacturing, was also the inventor of the Burco Fastener, "the final thing in automobile curtain fastener's" and the machine which produced them. Shortly after Dienne's birth he was to suffer an annurism and died suddenly thereby altering the course of the family. Dienne was the sister of David, Evangeline, Irene, Rita ,and Edgar. and wife of Theodore 'Ted" Warias (1923-67), mother of Dale (1947-72) and David and beloved aunt, great aunt, great great aunt, cousin to many and most of all friend to all.

Dienne attended Sacred Heart School and Amesbury High School serving as Vice President of her class and voted Most Friendly, Most Cheerful and Biggest Joker in the class of 1943. She played the lead in her Junior class play, The Little Darling, as the "Little Darling"! Following WW2, a recent graduate of Burdett Business College and a newlywed, she and Ted purchased the home heating oil business where she had been employed. The business also encompassed gasoline sales as well as auto mechanics. Ted's Service supplied gas and oil to many of Amesbury's homes and autos for decades.

After Dale's death in 1972 and the sale of the business in 1978 she sold the home that she and my dad had built in Amesbury and moved to Lincoln Wharf in Boston's North End/Waterfront neighborhood. In her 70's, the Wang Center, a theater, occupied much of her time. She received the Cabot Rowell Award as Volunteer of the Year in 1997, she also had the honor of having her named etched on a column in the theaters magnificent lobby. When not working on fund raising campaigns she also acted as the "coat check girl" during the many performances of the Boston Ballet, Broadway shows, and Concert Series which the Wang hosted. In her 80's she transistioned to the Hilton Hotel in the Financial District of Boston where her wonderful voice would greet callers and direct them to whatever and wherever was their need. She was ageless and became a cherished member of a group of young aspiring hoteliers. It was not unusual for me to stop by her condominium and find a table full of twenty-somethings enjoying a delicious dinner she had prepared. When I would drop her off at the hotel in the morning, all the valets would shout "It's Adrienne" and swarm the car welcoming her and hugging her while the guests needing assistance were temporarily inconvenienced....she had that magnatism!

Mother retired at the age of ninety-five and moved to Florida to be with me. As her son, I continued to discover the richness of her character and the depth of her soul. She was a five-foot force of nature who grew up playing hockey with the boys, defended those who were bullied by taking matters into her own hands, and once proudly appeared in a newspaper wearing a lampshade on her head while scrubbing a sidewalk with a toothbrush as part of a sorority hazing tradition. She married Teddy, the man voted the Best Dressed and Ideal Date in the AHS class of 1942. She successfully ran a traditional man's business and earned the respect she deserved by all with whom she did business and by all whom she employed. I'm reminded of a story that took place a few years ago, as she pulled into a parking lot and exited the car an older man and young boy approached and the man said " Are you Dienne Bourque" she smiled and said "yes" , the man looked at his grandson, the young boy, and said " This is the woman that gave me that scar on my leg when we were kids"...guess he must have been a bully!

Her life was filled with love and adventure. She sank a hole-in-one on the eighth hole at Amesbury Country Club—a feat repeated fifty years later by her great-great-nephew, Steven Simkens. She rode horseback into the Grand Canyon and spent a night on the Havasupai Reservation. She toured an estancia on the Argentine pampas on horseback, sailed the Nile in a felucca, floated down Arizona’s Salt River on an inner tube, soared through the sky in a hot air balloon, and breathed deeply of the air she loved most—on Block Island, at Lake Winnipesaukee, along Salisbury, Seabrook, and Hampton Beaches, and, most especially, in Amesbury. Last Thanksgiving, at the age of 101 and living in Florida, she sang the Amesbury Indians Fight Song at the dinner table in support of her beloved team during the traditional Amesbury-Newburyport Thanksgiving Day football game. Amesbury won, by the way.

We grew up listening to my Mom sing, at the dinner table, on road trips or just cuddling with us. Light, fun song's from the 40's, show tunes, Irish lullabies her Grandmother sang to her. A few weeks ago, at the end of her life she revealed something that was an Aha moment for me.... for it helped to explain, to finally put words to, what the essence of Dienne was, so simple yet so rich, the beauty of thought, word, deed, and song of life that she carried to everyone that she encountered. She had the gift of lighting up a room but more important was her gift of lighting up your heart.

Just last week, while sitting by the pool in her wheelchair, she began singing a French song I had never heard before. She said it was unfortunate that its beauty did not translate well into English. I could tell she was sharing something deeply personal and private: “Connais-tu le pays.” Later that evening, I researched the song and discovered it was an aria from the French opera Mignon—a far cry from “Chattanooga Choo Choo.” There it was: the depth behind the light that shone from those beautiful blue eyes.

At 853 pm on June 09, 2026 my Mother, Dienne, entered immortality and joined my sister Dale and so many other loved ones, gone before, to rest at peace for eternity.

I leave you now with another discovery I made in recent years. Dienne loved poetry and could recite it well into her one-hundredth and one year. Her favorite poem was Invictus by William Ernest Henley (1849–1903).A few years ago, she honored me by reciting it to me for the first time—revealing yet another private facet of her remarkable spirit. As she spoke the words, I came to understand how meaningful they had been throughout her life, how they guided and inspired her through her darkest moments, and how they helped her become the light she was to all of us. The final stanza reads as follows....

It matters not how straight the gate

how charged with punishments the scroll

I am the master of my fate

the captain of my soul.

You met a very special person when you had the pleasure of spending any time with my Mom Her warmth, welcoming, and interest in you was true, real, honest and sincere. You felt important to her....you were!