Therese “Tess” Loretta Tutty Garabedian died peacefully in her sleep Nov. 10, 2019 in Arlington, Mass. after an adventure-filled life. She was 92. Tess was cremated in Watertown, Mass., her hometown for many years. Her ashes will be buried in Butte, Montana’s Holy Cross Cemetery this summer.
Ms. Garabedian – or Tess as she was known to friends and family – was a teacher, a social activist who fought for children and women’s rights, and a staunch Democrat. She followed her New England Patriots and Boston Red Sox faithfully and refused to answer the phone during games. A nurse who cared for her at the end of her life appropriately described Tess as “a spitfire.”
In her lifetime, Tess worked with Mother Teresa of Calcutta, India and befriended Queen Salote of Tonga. She was written in as a character in a New York City playwright’s work, and she was personally selected by Bill Clinton to receive the President’s Award for “commitment to democratic ideals and values” in 1993. In the years before her death, Tess was writing a novel, a work that slowed as the arthritis in her hands made it difficult to hold a pen. She said her two regrets about dying was that she would not get to finish her novel and she would not be able to help reunify the immigrant families on the U.S.-Mexico border.
In her final conversation with her family, Tess said, “I love you all, more than you will ever know.”
Tess was born in Butte, Montana on June 22, 1927 to Thomas and Mary Tutty. She grew up in Dublin Gulch on North Wyoming Street in St. Mary’s Parish, behind the Stewart Mine. She attended St. Mary’s elementary school across the street, ice skated on the neighborhood rink, and played baseball as good as the boys.
Ms. Garabedian attended Girls Central High School where she was freshman class president, news editor of the Centralite and prefect of the Students’ Catholic Action Council. She placed first in the apologetics meet her senior year, was a member of the high school drum corps and active in the Pep and Sports clubs. She also played the organ at St. Mary’s Church. When Tess graduated in 1945, WWII was winding down.
Tess entered the Missionary Society of Mary, the Marists, in Bedford, Massachusetts in 1947. She took her vows at St. Theresa’s convent in Bedford on Feb 2, 1949, becoming Sister Mary Laureen. The Rt. Rev. Archbishop (later Cardinal) Richard J. Cushing, a strong supporter of the order, officiated. Cardinal Cushing created an uproar among Catholics in 1968 when he defended Jacqueline Kennedy’s marriage to Aristotle Onassis.
Tess was one of the first Butte women to enter a missionary community and the first Marist Missionary sister from the Helena diocese.
She attended the College of Our Lady of Mercy in Portland, Maine, earning the highest scholastic rating of her class, then completed a bachelor’s degree in art and languages at the College of Notre Dame in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1966, she earned her master’s degree in education from the State College of Boston, now University of Massachusetts, Boston.
Princess Elizabeth, who would later become Queen Elizabeth II, was on the boat Tess took to her first missionary assignment in Tonga. Tess fondly remembered the Tongan people for the rest of her life. She taught children and oversaw several schools there before heading back to the United States. She was proud that several of her former students went on to college. Tess spent some time in the San Francisco Bay Area during the Vietnam War era, then traveled to Lima, Peru where she continued her work teaching into the mid-1970s. During that time, she would send sketches of llamas back to her nieces and nephews in the United States and tell them her South American diet consisted of chocolate-covered ants. Although she never believed it, Tess was an artist and could use any materials at hand – including make-up samples that arrived in the mail – to create beautiful drawings. When she came home to visit, Tess would tell the story of Fernando, the bull with the delicate ego, as many times as requested and sing the accompanying song.
Tess left the order in the mid-1970s, returning to the Boston area, where she lived for the rest of her life. She worked at various jobs: teaching in Boston schools, working at a bank and college, and fundraising for non-profits. One day she stopped by a cobbler’s shop in Cambridge to get her shoes fixed and met Jean Garabedian, the shop’s owner, an Armenian from Marseille, France who had been part of the Resistance in WWII. When she returned to pick up her repaired shoes, he gave her a new pair he had made himself. Tess was smitten and they married.
Tess was preceded in death by her husband, Jean Garabedian of Watertown, Mass.; parents, Thomas and Mary Tutty of Butte, Mont.; her older sister, Margaret Mary Caldwell (Patrick) of Kansas City, Kan.; her younger brother, Thomas Tutty of Butte, Mont.; and her cousins, Frank and Millie Moriarty, of Deer Lodge, Mont. She is survived by her sister, Patricia A. Hennessey of Helena, Mont., her sister-in-law, Kay Tutty of Butte, Mont.; her cousin, Beth Shagina of Spokane Valley, Wash., and numerous nieces, nephews, and friends.
The family would like to thank the staff at CHA Cambridge and Everett hospitals, Park Avenue Health Center, Watertown Housing Authority elder care coordinator Patty Richardson, the Watertown Police Department, the Watertown Animal Control Office (who rehomed Rocky and Cookie, the cats), and Nardone Funeral Home in Watertown. Thank you, as well, to Ruthie Paridis, Norma Dunn, and Irma Smith, the ladies who held daily breakfast and lunch “meetings” with Tess.
Funeral arrangements are being handled by Anderson Stevenson Wilke Funeral Home and Crematory in Helena, Mont. In lieu of flowers, please consider paying off a child’s lunch debt at a school near you. Or, please donate to the Watertown, Mass. Animal Control Fund (contact Karen O’Reilly at 617-972-6446); the Armenian Museum of America, Watertown, Mass., www.armenianmuseum.org; or an organization of your choice that is helping feed and shelter immigrant children at the border.
Rest in peace, Tess. You left an awesome legacy and you stuck to your principles.
Service Schedule
Services are pending at this time or no services will be held. If available, please see obituary for more information.
Service Schedule
Services are pending at this time or no services will be held. If available, please see obituary for more information.
Lina Hernandez says
It was my pleasure meeting Tess in September 2019 at the care center. She was friendly at our being introduced, but because it was just before lunch, she’d rather have us “come back tomorrow AFTER lunch.” She made me smile with her “spitfire” ways!
It was also my pleasure helping her niece, Ann Hennessy and great niece, Teresa Duran clean Tess’ apartment. The experience turned into an excellent adventure.
Lina Hernandez (Ann’s sister-in-law, Teresa’s Aunt)
Florence Shaw says
Tess you did leave an awesome legacy. May you RIP as your tremendous work on this plane has been completed and you are now moving on as you are needed elsewhere.
Cathy Youngblood says
R.I.P. Aunt Tess..it was a pleasure to meet when you and Aunt Pat when you came to visit Laureen in PA. I have heard so many stories over the years of your achievements and adventures. You lead an amazing life! Hugs and prayers to the Tutty family!
Eileen (Mulcahy) Tierney says
The nuns at St. Mary’s in my class asked all of us to pray for Tess when she went to Tonga. My dad prayed for her everyday. I hope her book will be published one day as she led a very interesting and productive life. Prayers to our friends the Tutty family!