Aili V. (Waltanen) Walters Walsh, 87
Was active citizen in the community

WESTMINSTER - Aili V. (Waltanen) Walters Walsh, 87, of 100 Town Farm Road, died Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007, at Heywood Hospital, after an illness.

She was born in Westminster on Nov. 18, 1919, the daughter of the late Henry and Maria (Lamminen) Waltanen. She attended Westminster Elementary School; she then graduated from Fitchburg High School in 1938. She earned a diploma from Heywood Hospital as a Registered Nurse.

Mrs. Walsh then spent 30 years in New York City where she attended Hunter College and earned a B.S. in Nursing Sciences. She worked at Memorial Hospital in New York City. She then moved back to Westminster in 1972, and went to Boston University and earned her Master's Degree in Nursing Science, and worked at M.W.C.C. as a Nursing Instructor and retired from there as an Associate Professor in Nursing.

She was past president of the Finnish Cultural Center at Fitchburg State College. Mrs. Walsh was the Past President of the Westminster Friendship Club, and was on the Board of the North Central American Cancer Society, and then the Secretary there for two years. She served on the Board of the Gardner Visiting Nurses Association for 12 years. She was President of the Heywood Hospital Nurses Association.

She was a member of the Our Savior Lutheran Church, the Westminster Historical Society, the Finnish Woman's Choir of Messiah Lutheran Church in Fitchburg, the Fitchburg Senior Citizens Center, the Westminster Friendship Club, the Hunter College Alumni Nursing Organization, and the Finnish Center at Saima Park.

She leaves one son and daughter-in-law, John and Diane Walters of Townsend; one daughter and son-in-law, Mary-Lou (Walters) and C. Stanley Thompson of Gardner; one step-son, Tom Walsh of Greece; one sister, Mildred Ketola of South Carolina; 10 grandchildren, Rebecca Walters, Tiffany Walters, Kathryn Thompson, Robert Thompson, Tracey DeForge, Kim Tabor, Jessica Gokey, Kristy Gokey, Ron Walsh, Dennis Walsh; many great-grandchildren; many nieces, nephews and grandnieces and grandnephews. She was the wife of the late Louis Walters who died in May of 1968 and the wife of the late Francis T. Walsh who died in June of 2003. Mrs. Walsh was also predeceased by a step-son, James Walsh; a brother, Toivo Waltanen; and two sisters, Elma Waltanen and Esther Peltonen.

The funeral will be held Friday, Jan. 26, at 10:30 a.m. in Our Savior Lutheran Church, 17 Marshall Hill Road, Westminster. Burial will follow.

Memorial contributions be made to either: the Our Savior Lutheran Church Memorial Fund, the American Cancer Society, or to the American Diabetes Association, or may be left at the Westminster Chapel of the Sawyer-Miller-Masciarelli Funeral Home.