Tecla Foran of Milford, Connecticut, died peacefully on January 26, 2014 at the Connecticut Hospice in Branford following a five-month battle after falling ill in August shortly after her 96th birthday.
She was born on August 19, 1917, the fifth of nine children of Adolph and Stella Malinosky of Milford, and was a retired elementary school teacher having taught at three different Milford public schools during her 26-year career.
Her career began shortly after graduating from New Haven State Teachers College (now Southern Connecticut State University) in 1938 and was interrupted from 1942-1952, when she began her family with her husband, Paul Foran (who predeceased her in 2006).
The last four years of her ten-year hiatus from teaching were spent in Dallas, Texas where she moved with Paul and their 1 and 5-year-old sons in 1948. After she and her family moved back to Milford in 1952, Tecla resumed her career, mainly as a first grade teacher at the then new Pumpkin Delight school in Devon. Twenty three years later she finished her career at the Live Oaks school in Woodmont from which she retired in 1976.
Tecla grew up during the 1920s and 1930s on the Malinosky’s small family farm on West River Street and Fresh Meadow Lane and graduated from Milford High School in 1934 where she did well in her studies and was captain of the Milford High girls’ basketball and field hockey teams. Although life was not easy in her high school years during the depths of the great depression, in addition to her school activities she also managed to work as a waitress at a local restaurant and materially assisted her family during those difficult times.
She and Paul, also a 1934 graduate of Milford High, were married in 1942, and after raising their children and both retired from their jobs & careers, moved to their improved summer home on Cape Cod in 1976. During the 1970s Tecla also became the grandmother of three grandchildren and enjoyed life at the Cape where she and Paul often invited and entertained their numerous guests.
She and Paul moved back to Milford again in 1986 where they had since lived together at Longmeadow Condominiums in Woodmont until Paul passed away in 2006. After Paul passed away and for the seven years prior to becoming ill and in declining health this past summer, Tecla continued to live on her own at Longmeadow and to share her life with others.
Always independent in spirit with a strong desire to maintain her ability to be self reliant and to help and assist others in any way she could, even into her nineties, she still drove her car, prepared meals for guests, loved UConn basketball, and made her famous cream cheese pies for gatherings of friends and family.
Tecla was a kind, generous, and endearing woman who loved and lived her life fully, with modesty and without extravagance. She was appreciative of and content with what she had and knew how to appreciate and enjoy life whether alone or in the company of others. She was devoted, loyal, and dependable as a wife and mother, and in her career as a Milford public elementary school teacher.
Both Tecla and her husband Paul came from sizeable families with numerous siblings and other relatives whom they loved and kept in contact with over the years. Children, grandchildren, and in-laws were also added over time. Throughout their lives and careers they also acquired a multitude of friends and acquaintances and loved them all within the ever-increasing galaxy of relatives and friends gathered and spawned during their lives together.
Tecla remained cheerful and maintained her sense of humor even in the midst of her own struggle and suffering near the end of her life as well as at those times when she knew things weren’t right and that the world could and should be a better place. She was an excellent steward of her God given gifts and used them well to the benefit of others, as well as herself, especially as a teacher of children.
She was a devout Catholic Christian in faith and a woman of compassion and love. All who knew her were hopeful that she would have been around for a few more years but after fighting the good fight to the end, sadly, that was not to be. At the same time, she had a good long well lived productive life which at its end is more a cause for celebration than sorrow.
She is survived by her sister Ceil Bloxom, her son Neil, her son (& daughter in-law) Dennis (Joan), and 3 grandchildren, Rachel, Justin, and Christopher.
On February 8, 2014 a Funeral Mass and internment were respectively held at St. Agnes Church in Woodmont and St. Mary’s cemetery in Milford.
Donations in Tecla’s memory may be made to the Connecticut Hospice, Inc., 100 Double Beach Road, Branford, CT 06405 (203-315-7864/www.hospice.com).