Honor Maureen's Legacy: Support Her Farewell

My mother, Maureen Barton, passed away on April 29, 2025. She was born and raised in New Bedford, MA with her parents, Joseph and Miriam Hartley, and her 6 brothers and sisters, John, Joseph, Charles, Margaret ("Peggy"), Miriam, and Melanie. She met her husband, David, in New Bedford Whalers Drum and Bugle Corps and married on April 8, 1967, at St. Lawrence Catholic Church in New Bedford. They just celebrated 58 years of marriage before her passing. Maureen and David bought a plot of land in East Freetown, MA, where they built their forever home and raised 3 children, Norman, Peter, and Nicole ("Nikkie"). Over the years, they hosted large family gatherings, cookouts with friends, Sunday dinners, Christmas, Easter, and Thanksgiving holidays, and even a family reunion that united a family separated across the country for many years. She spent hours at the kitchen table crafting and painting, making mop dolls, slate paintings, and other crafts with her best friend and neighbors, mother-in-law, and aunt for local craft fairs. They welcomed 9 grandchildren, Joshua, Kalin, Chloe, Jillian, Cameron, Caleb, Isaiah, and Gio, and a great-granddaughter, Ivy, into their home. Their grandchildren were their light, life, and breath. They got the best of their grandparents. She loved them deeply.

Maureen was a hard worker, working multiple jobs through the years at Parkview Hospital in the ER, waitressing at Ponderosa Steakhouse, merchandiser for Nonsense, Kodak, and Magnavision, and customer service rep for Poland Springs, just to name a few.

Maureen was a jokester, always up for a good laugh, loved music and dancing, and was always looking out for family. She was a stubborn Irish woman and could drive you to the brink of insanity at times... but she was fierce and a fighter...

Maureen lived the last 20 years battling multiple ailments and cheating death more times than we can count. We used to joke she was part cat with the number of lives she had. She used to always say, "the devil don't want her and God ain't ready for her." In 2005, we almost lost her to a MRSA infection in her lungs. Since then, she has had multiple strokes, one of which caused significant balance issues and caused her to go deaf in one ear, multiple bouts of pneumonia, sepsis, liver cancer, liver transplant, diabetes, skin cancer, a cancerous tumor on her scalp, lung cancer, and dementia among other ailments. In the end, her heart gave out after aspirating, and she could not be revived.

She died at the age of 77. She fought the good fight and now she sleeps...

We are raising funds to help pay for the funeral costs and burial. If you are able to help donate, any little bit is helpful and appreciated with gratitude. If you are unable to donate at this time, we would be grateful for you to share on social media or amongst friends and family.