Mary A. Tribe

Mary A. Tribe, 92, of Westborough, passed away on Sunday, August 18, 2024, at the UMass/Memorial Healthcare-University Hospital. She was the wife for 38 years of the late Alden C. Tribe, her cherished love.  Mary is survived and beloved by her four children, David M. Tribe and his wife, Sue, of Clifton Township, PA, Christine T. Casella and her husband, Don, of Plymouth, Kathy Cardogno of Worcester and Barbara T. Jette and her husband, Ernie, of Spencer.   Mary was a wonderful grandmother to 16 amazing grandchildren and 25 wonderful great-grandchildren and is also survived by many nieces and nephews.

Born in Oneida, NY, she was the daughter of the late Ralph and Hazel (Wilbur) Aiken. She was raised and educated in the small rural town of Oneida, NY, and grew up in the Oneida Community Mansion House with her father after her mother died when she was 3.

Mary graduated from Cornell University where she met the love of her life.  Mary and Al met on a blind date at Cornell and quickly fell deeply in love.  He became an engineer, and she was going to be a journalist upon graduation.  They married in 1952, moved to Worcester to begin their life, and as life would have it they started a family 10 months later.  So instead of writing the great American novel she became a stay-at-home mom with 4 children under the age of 6 within their first 7 years.   While Mary had thought she might teach at the college level one day, she was active in Sunday school, Cub Scouts, Girl Scouts, and her children’s schools’ PTO groups all of which nurtured a love for teaching younger children.  So off to graduate school she went to Framingham State University and then began an illustrious teaching career.  She spent most of her 29-year career teaching middle school English Language Arts in the Northborough Public School system.   She loved teaching and helped many, many students write and “publish” their own “great American novels”!   Today we all cherish the book she did actually write, which is about our own family beginning with their humble beginnings.

Mary was very active in the Unitarian Universalist church in Westborough in many different roles.  Mary and Al built their home in Westboro where Mary lived for 52 years, and widowed since 1990, she entered The Willows of Westborough in 2013, returning to community living once again.

As an active member of The Willows of Westborough for 11 years, Mary was involved in various boards and committees in the resident community and participated in the writing and publishing of The Wind in the Willows, all right up until the end.  She made many wonderful friendships and felt richly blessed.   She loved the social life there, enjoying her many game groups, her breakfast club and dinner groups, movie and concerts nights, and a weekly social hour!

Mary was deeply loved and will be missed by us all.

A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, August 24, at 11:00 A.M. in The Unitarian Universalist Church, 64 West Main St., Westborough.  The Burial in Pine Grove Cemetery will be private.

The family requests in lieu of flowers, donations in her memory be made to the Alzheimer’s Association at www.alz.org   or to The Willows Scholarship Fund, The Willows of Westborough, 1 Lyman Street, Westborough, MA 01581