It is with heavy hearts our family announces the passing of our dear Mother Angela Caroline Pendleton. Angela left us the 9th of October, 2024, at 8:38 p.m. while at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, Houston. With her there at her passing was her daughter Nancy and son-in-law Carlos, son William and wife Joninna, and grandson Jerry Kelliher. Angela was residing with daughter Nancy and husband Carlos in Houston the last year of her life and was very happy there.
Angela was born on April 27th 1936 at Saint Mary’s Hospital in Lewiston Maine. Born the sixth of eight children to Emile A Thibault and Alice C Boucher, they lived in a modest home on Garcelon Street in Lewiston. Our mother reminisced often about her large French Canadian family and the good life she had as a child there. Her Mother Alice gardened, canned, had chickens, made butter, sewed, etc., and yet worked in the Bates textile Mill..how did she do it? Our mother Angela was cut from that same cloth so to speak and proved it throughout her life. Angela was her mother’s shadow, following her, observing and ready to help her Mother which prompted Alice to call her “The Angel of the House”. Angela and her siblings attended Holy Family Catholic School in Lewiston where she graduated.
One of the memories our mother cherished is the trips to her Mothers’ sister’s beach house in Camp Ellis, Maine, just below Old Orchard Beach. She loved clamming there and enjoying the sun and sand, and the full house of loved ones. While on one of these visits here comes John Pendleton walking along the shore all buff wearing an old t-shirt with holes, his thick shock of deep auburn red hair blowing…Mom fell for him at once! Dad was a young newly enlisted Naval sailor and likewise when he laid eyes on the gorgeous little French Angi that was it! It wasn’t long before they married, tying the knot in a blizzard on September 11, 1954.
With Angela by his side, John began a long and wonderful Naval career on Submarines. Angela was an exemplary Navy Wife and Mother bearing six children in those years. Children aren’t all she bore as every couple years the Navy would transfer our father to another state and we would pull up stakes and move yet again, and our mother never once complained, nor did she complain when our father was out to sea for months at a time and our Mother had to deal with all of us! We got the ole ” Just wait til your father comes back from sea!” Hence the dub ‘Navy Brat’ Our Mother Angela had strength, resilience and a strong faith in God always making sure we were in church on Sunday and attended Catechism…and there was NO excuse to miss Mass!
Angela was so fun loving! She loved big family gatherings and put on a big spread of delicious food with plenty for all. Lots of cousins and children running around while the adults played cards, usually Pinochle, and Yahtzee was always a favorite. She always did her crossword puzzles and word search especially in her later years, which contributed to keeping her mind sharp. Our Mother had many interests like sewing, cooking (of course), reading, ceramics, number painting, camping, parties, but I know she loved her babies most of all ..she loved being a Mom and Homemaker…and she absolutely loved cats especially kittens! Everyone knows she’s a cat lady.
Angi also enjoyed the Naval functions and activities from large Navy BBQ’s to the glamorous Navy Balls when we remember our parents looking amazing before they left the house to attend, a couple times Mom had a beautiful tiara donning her head. Mom always watched her weight and dressed impeccably, always the Lady making her husband proud.
Family was everything to our Mother and while her children were young seeking employment was unthinkable. Homemaking was her most important job. When our mother was a teen of 14 she was a candy striper in a hospital in Lewiston and at around 17 she loved a little boutique job she held. Only after the youngest was in school did she become the Librarian on Fishers Island , NY. An avid reader she loved this job. Later while living in East Lyme, Connecticut, she became employed at Lawrence and Memorial Hospital in New London,Ct, as a transportation aide.
Finally in retirement after all the children were grown with lives of their own, John and Angi embarked on another fantastic adventure! They sold the house in East Lyme, put things in storage and bought an RV, taking to the road for seven years. A map of the USA on the side of their “Rig” was filled in with each state they went to. Of all the places they travelled through they settled in Lady LAke, Florida in a gated community called Water Oak, where they resided 25 years. A fabulous life!
Sadly our Father John, the love of Angi’s life, passed on June 22, 2015. The void was too much for our mother and she sold the home they shared and went to stay with her son William briefly till she went back to Ct to live with her son John for a time, She then lived with her daughter Kathleen in North Carolina and followed Kathy back to Florida. Our Mother then went to Houston, TX to live with her dear daughter Nancy where she was happy the last year of her Earthly life. Our Mother had a very long, full, and exciting life living in Maine, Hawaii, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New Jersey, California, Virginia, Key West, Charleston, SC, and finally Florida, then Houston, TX.
Our Mother Angela (Angi) Caroline Pendleton will be sorely missed leaving a huge void… She is predeceased by our Father John (Sonny) Edward Pendleton. She is survived by her six children Patricia A Pendleton Ott, Kathleen J Bourey, John D Pendleton, Nancy J (Carlos) Rigores, William E (Jonina) Pendleton, and Cheryl A (Charles) Ketchel. Twelve grandchildren (one predeceased Stephanie C Ott), thirteen great grandchildren, and four great great grandchild. She is survived by one sibling Andrew N Thibault.
Services will be held at: Beyers Funeral Home in Lady Lake, Florida, 134 US 441 Lady Lake, Florida 12359 on October 28, from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. with interment to follow at 1:30pm at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell, Florida.
