Connie Lowe died peacefully on Sept. 28. She was 93.

She was born Concetta Spadafora on May 26, 1928, the seventh of nine siblings and the last child in her large family to be born in Italy.

Her father, Antonio, had immigrated to the U.S. to establish a business in Philadelphia. He moved her mother Maria and the family there when Connie was 18 months old.

She lived in Philadelphia near her siblings until she was 20, when she married Theodore Lowe Sr. She worked several retail and secretarial jobs to help support her husband while he studied for his PhD at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shortly after he graduated, they moved to Ohio and had the first of their two sons, Theodore Lowe Jr., who was born in 1957. In 1961, they had their second son, Erik Lowe.

The family moved from Ohio to Worcester, where they lived for five years, and then to Fayetteville, N.Y., where Connie lived for the next 50 years.

One of the constants in Connie’s life was her love of family and children. Even as a young woman, she was the one who cared for her nieces and nephews, dressing them up and marching them around in make-believe parades, plays and pageants.

Her love of children led her to return to school later in life and earn a degree in early childhood education. She worked at a local preschool for a number of years.

She loved singing songs and hosting parties. If she had a listener, she would stay up all night, telling tales of family and adventures. She was a voracious reader with an amazing memory and could recite full poems that she memorized in school many decades later.

She loved cooking and sharing meals with family and friends. She passed this appreciation of food and tradition as well as the popular family recipes onto her sons and grandchildren.

She and her husband enjoyed traveling. After he retired, they spent a great deal of time taking international tours and also organizing tours for others. Connie loved to meet new people and could make lasting friendships wherever she went.

She appreciated the importance of civic engagement, was active in the League of Women Voters, and was a member of the local board of assessors.

A devout Catholic, she regularly attended church and was involved with her Church of the Immaculate Conception congregation for decades as newsletter editor, lector, and Eucharistic minister.

She is survived by her two sons, Theodore and Erik, and their families, as well as her only remaining sibling: Anthony (Sonny) Spadafora of Ocean City, N.J.

A memorial mass will be held on Friday, Oct. 8 at 11 a.m at St. Augustine’s Church in Vineyard Haven.

Donations can be made to the Good Shepherd Parish of Martha’s Vineyard.