Claire Donnelly

Claire M. Donnelly (Murphy), 84, of Hopkinton passed away April 25 after a short period of declining health. She was the daughter of the late William and Catherine (Loughman) Murphy and wife of the late Merlin Joseph Donnelly, who died in 1996. Claire worked for Verizon Corporation for 27 years, retiring in 1989. She was a member of the Telephone Pioneers of America and the Castle Island Association in South Boston. Claire was an avid sports fan and especially loved the Patriots and Red Sox. She enjoyed playing bingo, going to the casino, skiing, cruising and traveling with her late husband, family and friends, spending many winters in Naples, Florida, with “her Joe”and his siblings and their spouses.

Mrs. Donnelly is survived by numerous nieces and nephews, their children and grandchildren, her sister-in-law, Lorraine Noland of Weymouth, as well as many dear friends and her close friends at Fairview Estates in Hopkinton. She was the sister of the late Marion A. Burke, Dr. John J. Murphy, William P. Murphy, Evelyn R. Harmon and Robert P. Murphy.

A funeral service will be held Saturday, May 7, at 2 p.m. in the chapel of the Matarese Funeral Home, 325 Main Street, Ashland, with urn burial to follow in St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Natick. An hour of visitation will be held Saturday from 1-2 p.m. prior to the service. If desired, donations in Claire’s memory may be made to St. Jude’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude’s Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Obituaries are submissions, typically from funeral homes, that are not subject to the same level of editorial oversight as the rest of the Hopkinton Independent. Obituaries may be edited for grammatical and factual mistakes and clarifications and shortened for space considerations.