Catherine Leal de Lemos

Catherine de Lemos, 93, of Waltham, MA (formerly of Swannanoa, NC) died Friday, May 8th, 3 days shy of her 94th birthday. 

She leaves behind her four loving and devoted nieces from her brother Ed: Ellen de Lemos of Acton; Elizabeth de Lemos and Kevin O’Keefe of Watertown; Suzanne de Lemos Williams and Tom Williams of Waltham; and Cynthia and Mark Listewnik of Holliston. She is also survived by her nephew Christopher Drinnan of Washington DC, from predeceased sister Barbara; Loretta Lee of Maryland and George Lemos of North Carolina, niece and nephew from her predeceased brother George; nephew Matthew Lemos of New Hampshire from predeceased brother Matthew.  

She was born and raised in Somerville, MA, the seventh of 10 children. Predeceased by her parents, Jovina Leal and Antonio Simoes de Lemos were proud Portuguese immigrants who came to this country seeking a better life for themselves and their children. Catherine was a pioneer of the professional women’s movement, educating herself, starting at Suffolk University, then later in life going on to get her Master’s from Wellesley College for which she was extremely proud of.  She started her own business, as an executive assistant and spent much of her career as the right-hand woman for the president of the Harvard Medical School.

Upon retirement, Catherine moved to Asheville, NC, an area she always loved.  She spent many, happy years there before moving back to Massachusetts to be closer to her brother Ed and family, visiting nearly every Sunday until she passed.

Catherine was a fierce and inspirational force of nature, accomplishing anything she set her mind to. She will be dearly missed.

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