Patricia L. (Santos) Twombly Obituary
Rockport- Patricia Laura Twombly, 85, passed away suddenly at her home in Rockport from heart failure on August 18. She was the widow of John M. Twombly, Jr., who passed away in 2019.
Pat was born on December 15, 1936, in Salem, MA to Florence (McEachern) and Anthony Santos. She spent her elementary school years growing up on Friend Street in Gloucester, and in her high school years, lived in Cambridge on Huron Ave. and attended Cambridge High and Latin. In 1942, Pat's parents bought the old Coast Guard Station overlooking Long Beach where Pat and her brothers and sister spent every school vacation until it became their permanent home.
Pat earned her Bachelor's degree in education from Boston Normal School and Salem Teacher's College in 1960. She earned her Master's Degree in education from Lesley University in 1992.
In the 1950's, Pat met her husband of 58 years at the Pavilion dance hall on Long Beach, where his parents had a cottage. After she married in 1960, Pat was employed as an art teacher in Norwood Public Schools. She soon became a stay-at-home mom to her four children that were born between 1962 and 1971. In 1975 the Twombly family built their home behind Long Beach and Pat was soon hired as a fifth grade teacher in Rockport. She taught fifth grade in the Rockport schools until 2005 with a short hiatus when her last son was born. Never having a driver's license, she took the school bus to school every day with the kids! Pat was an exceptional educator; smart, curious, funny and kind, "Mrs. T." enriched the lives of hundreds of Rockport students.
Pat was known in later years also as "Grammie T" to many of her fans who frequented Long Beach and kept their surfboards on her front porch. She was an active member of Twitter and Facebook and was known for her funny comments and occasional surf reports! Her 5 children have 14 grandchildren between them and so Grammie T's house, especially in summer, was the sight of dozens of beach towels and boxes of pizza!
She leaves an extended family of Paula and Keith, Bethany, Anna and Mary (Gray) of Gloucester, and the Twombly's of Rockport are the families of Ted (John III) and Stacey, Kristen Molly, Lucy and Francesca, Peter, Gillian and Abigail, Don, Laurie, Emma, Cal, Phoebe, Tessa, Greg and Emily, Morrison, Patrick and Phillip.
In lieu of flowers, donations will be gratefully accepted by Senior Care Nutrition, Senior Care, Inc. 49 Blackburn Dr., Gloucester, Ma 01930. Grammie T loved her Meals on Wheels, and her providers were so important to her! A casual Celebration of Life gathering will be held on Friday, November 25, 2022, in Decklyn's Restaurant at 31 Harbor Loop in Gloucester. Drop in between the hours of 2:00 and 5:00pm.
