Laurene Kelley Fee

Laurene Kelley Fee, of Hingham, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, woman of great faith and friend to many, passed away peacefully in Hingham on November 16, 2023. She was 91. Her husband of 69 years, John W. “Jack” Fee predeceased her by five months and two days. Over the course of their 73 years as a couple, only the Korean War had previously separated these two from one another. Now, in God’s presence, they are united again.

Laurene was born and raised in Brighton, Massachusetts, the fifth of six children born to Lawrence and Clara Kelley. Laurene’s siblings, Barbara, Leo, Bob, Bill and little brother Dick, all predeceased her. Born at the dawn of the Great Depression, Laurene contributed mightily to the maintenance of the large household, ever the responsible, hard working and dependable person even as a youngster. She watched her older brothers leave for military service in World War II and rejoiced when they returned. A member of St. Columbkille Parish in Brighton, she graduated from St. Columbkille’s High School where she served as a cheerleader, forever proud that the St. Columbkille’s Marching Band and Cheer Squad had marched regularly in the annual St. Patrick’s Day Parade in South Boston.

After graduating from high school with a concentration in business administration, Laurene immediately went to work for the Personal Finance Corporation in Boston. By this time, she had met Jack, the man who became the love of her extraordinary life, when they both had coincidentally served in her brother Bob’s wedding party. As Laurene would say, somehow a country boy from Hingham fell in love with a “city kid.” Jack and Laurene were married at St. Columbkille’s Church on February 22, 1954, after Jack returned from the Korean War. While Jack was in Korea, Laurene wrote a letter to him every day. The couple’s first home was in Panama City, Florida, outside Tyndall Air Force Base where Jack spent the final two years of his active duty military service. The Florida Panhandle in 1954 was not a resort; it was the Deep South and, in many ways, Laurene would later describe, a very, very different world from the one Jack and Laurene knew.

The couple returned to Hingham in 1956 with their one-year-old son, John W. Fee, III (“Jay”). They moved into a house in West Hingham that had been in the Fee family since 1849. Jack, a gifted carpenter, and builder, renovated the house and soon a second son, Michael Kelley Fee, was born.

Laurene’s devotion to her husband and her two sons was limitless. During the 1960’s she worked nights as a banquet waitress at the then-private South Shore Country Club. Proud that she often was assigned the “head table” at an event, Laurene would return home not only with hard-earned gratuities, but also autographs for her sons she had charmed from professional athletes and other celebrities. She went on to work for years in the administrative office of the Hingham Public Schools and later in customer service at the headquarters of the Hingham Light Plant where many Hingham residents came to know her. In retirement, Laurene’s love of meeting and interacting with people could not be restrained, so after retiring she worked at the ticket office for the Boston commuter boat at the Hingham Shipyard where she greeted countless staff and commuters each day with her engaging smile and good nature.

Laurene was a pillar of St. Paul’s Parish, sending her sons to the school and coordinating several events, including the 125^th Anniversary. To honor Jack’s military service and instill patriotism in youth, Laurene and Jack donated the funds for the erection of a beautiful flagpole behind St. Paul’s Convent on Fearing Road, where the American Flag flies high above the school each day.

Laurene and Jack’s devotion to one another is an inspirational love story for the ages. Through the years, their boundless and dignified love for each other and their family was on display for all to see and it left an indelible mark on their sons and daughters-in-law, their grandchildren, great-grandchildren, neighbors, friends and even strangers. As many can attest, kindness, generosity, faith, and love were Laurene’s defining attributes.

Laurene leaves a son Jay and his wife Joan Zuhusky Fee of Hingham, and a son Michael and his wife Elizabeth Clancy Fee of Needham. Laurene is also survived by six grandchildren, Monica (Pelham, New York), Nick (Hoboken, New Jersey), James (Rye, New York), Thomas (Boston, Mass.), John (Boston, Mass.) and Margaret (Boston, Mass.), as well as four great-grandchildren, Brigid and Catherine (Pelham, New York) and Abigail and Christopher (Rye, New York).

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to greet the family during the visiting hours on Friday, November 24, 2023, 9-11 AM in the Pyne Keohane Funeral Home, 21 Emerald St. (off Central St.), HINGHAM.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held in the funeral home at 11 AM on Friday, November 24, 2023, prior to the Funeral Mass in St. Paul’s Church, Hingham at 11:30 AM.

Services will conclude with interment in St. Paul’s Cemetery, Hingham.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be sent in Laurene’s name to Norwell Visiting Nurse Association & Hospice, 120 Longwater Dr., Norwell, MA 02061.