Born in New Bedford, daughter of Helen (Souza) and Gilbert Cabral, she graduated from New Bedford High School and Cape Cod Hospital School of Nursing.
Cecelia pursued a lifelong career in nursing focused upon elder care at area nursing homes while raising her five young children. In 1974, she married Abraham Ridings, deceased in 1993, and opened her heart and home to his five children.
In 2002, she settled in Athens, with her companion of sixteen years, Wesley Rollins, where she found her “piece of heaven” nestled among the hills and streams. She continued her calling to care for the elderly and those in need of rehabilitation services, retiring in 2011 from Cedar Ridge Center in Skowhegan. Upon her retirement, she enjoyed watching her granddaughters, Mia Braley and Kira Braley, play basketball and grow up to be beautiful young women.
In addition to her parents and husbands, she is predeceased by her son, Donald Simpkin, and stepson, Abraham Ridings III. Survivors include her two daughters Robin Tuttle of Athens, ME and Pamela Haller of Boston, MA; her two sons, David Simpkin III and Kevin Simpkin, both of New Bedford, MA; three stepdaughters, Theresa Ridings, Sandra Adams, and Vanessa Ridings; three stepsons Courtland Ridings, Wesley Rollins, Jr., and Rick Rollins; her sister Anne Rod of New Bedford; and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
A graveside service will be held at 9 am on Saturday, October 13th at Naskatucket Cemetery, 266 Huttleston Avenue Fairhaven, MA. The family will receive friends following the service.
Arrangements are entrusted to the Care of Smart & Edwards Funeral Home, 183 Madison Ave., Skowhegan, Maine.
Expressions of sympathy in her memory may be donated to the American Parkinson Disease Association, 72 East Concord Street, Room C3, Boston, MA 02118 or at www.apdaparkinson.org.
