Obituary of Maureen E Walden

Maureen Ellen Walden

Maureen Ellen Walden, loving and beloved mother, grandmother, sister, cousin, aunt, and friend, passed away on July 27, 2021, in Tucson, where she made her home since moving here from Connecticut in 1960. She was born in 1928 in Waterbury, Connecticut, to Charles F. Daly (WWI vet) and Marie Meegan Daly, and thus became part of a large extended family that she dearly loved, every one. Maureen left a large piece of her heart in Naugatuck, the picturesque yet dynamic small town she grew up in, and some of her fondest memories are of good times with friends and cousins that attended Naugatuck High School, where she was named Class Poet. She enjoyed attending high school reunions there in later years and reconnecting with old friends. After high school she gained her accounting skills from Post Junior College of Commerce in Waterbury, and was a highly valued comptometer operator, a complicated computing machine in many ways the precursor to the computer.

In spite of her strong roots in her hometown, in 1960 she packed up her small daughter (from her first marriage) and some belongings and drove the thousands-mile journey to Tucson with her mother in support of her father who had flown ahead to make arrangements to relocate here for health reasons.

She settled here in Tucson and worked first for Valley National Bank and then as a receptionist and accountant for Shamrock Dairy, until she retired. While here she met Victor A. Walden, a WWII vet, and they later married and enjoyed a very happy life together in Tucson. Maureen had many talents and interests. She enjoyed interior decorating and gardening, reading, travel, spending time with family, attending church with a cherished friend, connecting with wonderful neighbors, and taking walks in her favorite neighborhood, Winterhaven, where she loved decorating for Christmas. She was smart and funny and fiercely loyal to both family and friends, and derived great pleasure from those relationships. She appreciated the simple blessings in life. She loved well and took spectacular and selfless care of her parents in their old age; she was pleased to refer to herself, with a happy smile, as “chief cook and bottle washer” when she was looking after her mother, Marie. She was a steady, reliable, and loving presence to her family, and she left behind a lot of good memories. She will be terribly missed.

Preceded in death by her husband, Victor A. Walden, and her brother and sister-in-law, Charles (Chuck) and Marjorie Daly of New Jersey; she is survived by her brother, Kevin J. Daly (Regina Daly) of Connecticut; daughter, Wendy Gabriel (Paul Gabriel) of Tucson; grandson, Mark J. P. Gabriel (Annika Bastacky) of Berkeley, California; beloved cousins, nieces, and nephews; and dear friends and neighbors. A funeral service will be held Saturday, August 21, 2021 at 12:00 noon, at St Frances Cabrini Church, 3201 E. Presidio Rd., Tucson, AZ (520) 326-7670.