Claire Norma Coyle

Claire Norma Stacey Coyle died peacefully in her sleep on Saturday morning, January 9, 2021, after a lengthy illness.  She resided at the Greenfield Senior Living Facility, 251 Patriot Lane, Williamsburg, Virginia for several years after moving to the Ford’s Colony Community with her family in 2009.

Mrs. Coyle was born in Lynn, Massachusetts on June 29, 1927 and graduated from the Lynn English High School in 1944.  She married Charles Leo Coyle, also of Lynn, on Easter Sunday, March 28, 1948.  The couple began their married life in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada where Mr. and Mrs. Coyle ran Leo Coyle’s Restaurant.

The Coyles relocated to Marblehead, Massachusetts in the 1950’s.  Throughout the following decade, they moved several times to Palm Beach, Florida, Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Lakewood, Colorado before eventually settling in Towson, Maryland in 1968.

A graduate of the secretarial studies program at Simmons in Boston, Mrs. Coyle was a secretary during World War II.  She also had her real estate license and worked in retail, at Hutzler’s in Baltimore, when she moved to Maryland.  An avid gardener, Mrs. Coyle was particularly fond of growing African violets.  She enjoyed travelling with her husband in their later years, to the Caribbean, Hawaii, Florida and other warm climates.

Mrs. Coyle was fifteen years old, dancing in the Sheraton Hotel ballroom on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, 1942.  Across the street, the Cocoanut Grove fire erupted.  Mrs. Coyle would never forget the blackened hands of the men who tried to rescue people trapped in the revolving doors of the burning nightclub.  The fire hoses that littered the street or the long lines in the hotel lobby for the pay phones.  She spoke of the smell of burning flesh that permeated the air and of her parents, who slept right through the commotion.  Her father was a Lynn fireman, who lived too far for any alarm to reach him.

Claire Stacey Coyle is survived by her four children, Cheryl Forbes (John Forbes), of Ashburn, Virginia, Caryn, of Peabody, Massachusetts, Christopher (Carol Higgins Coyle), of Vero Beach, Florida and Colin (Virginia Cornick Coyle), of Williamsburg, Virginia.  She had eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren, numerous nieces and nephews.  A seventh great- grandchild is due in March.  Her brother, William Stacey, of Monroe, Georgia, and sister, Brenda Jane Lundquist, of Nashville, Tennessee also survive her.

A Private family Catholic Mass will be celebrated at St. Bedes in Williamsburg on Tuesday, January 19, 2021.  Online streaming instructions are provided below.  Burial will take place at Quantico National Cemetery on Wednesday, January 20, 2021.  Mrs. Coyle will join her husband, Captain Charles Coyle of the US. Marine Corp, who was a World War II veteran, at Quantico.  He died on September 23, 2011.

Flowers may only be accepted for the Mass.  In lieu of flowers, donations in Claire’s memory to the Dementia Society, the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation, or to your local or national chapter of The Alzheimer’s Association are appreciated.  Additionally, a memorial page has been established on We Remember.com to share memories of Claire at the link below.

https://www.weremember.com/claire-coyle/4l9h/memories?utm_campaign=createShareEmail&utm_source=email

Streaming Instructions for Catholic Mass, 19 January 2021, 11AM

PLEASE SIGN INTO LIVE STREAMING NO EARLIER THAN 10:50AM:

1. Key into your browserbedeva.org, then hit “enter”.
2. Select the “start” arrow button on the Box that says “Welcome to Saint Bede Catholic Church. Our Live Stream will begin shortly”.
3. If you do not see the Live Stream at the scheduled start time, please refresh your page. Repeat until you see Claire’s Mass display.

TO VIEW THE MASS VIA FACEBOOK:

1. Key into your browser facebook.com/saintbedecatholicchurch.
2. Saint Bede’s Facebook Homepage should come up and display several boxes to select from.
3. The box you are looking for will either say “Welcome to Saint Bede Catholic Church. Online Streaming will begin shortly”, OR, Claire Coyle Funeral Mass January 19, 2021 11:00AM.
4. If it says “Welcome to Saint Bede…… “Refresh the page until the Online Streaming begins for Claire’s Mass.
5. If for some reason streaming via Facebook fails or is disrupted, please follow the instructions above using Saint Bede’s website at bedeva.org.