Anna Mae Cecilio of Pocasset died on Sunday, Sept. 17 at the Oak Bluffs home of her daughter Marie Fisher. She was 95.

She was born on Nov. 30, 1927 to Mary Silva and Peter Moreis. Her parents had nine children during their 12-year-long marriage. Anna Mae was the oldest of 18 children born to her mother; after her marriage to Mr. Moreis, she married Julio Araujo in 1940.

Anna Mae helped out at home, raising a very large family. When she decided to go to school to become a nurse her mother asked her not to go and stay to help raise her family. Anna Mae refused and went to school. She graduated from the Tisbury School in 1945 and took a course in licensed practical nursing at Sheppard-Gill in Boston. She took jobs at rest homes, a hospital and in private duty.

In 1963 she began work at Dr. Hoxsie’s office in Vineyard Haven. His encouragement and sponsorship sent her to a 16-week course at Bunker Hill Health Center in Charleston. She was certified as one of the first nurse practitioners in Massachusetts. Her determined courage landed her a respectful job with Dr. Hoxsie, one she kept for 24 years. She left only when she needed to care for her ill husband. Anna Mae probably did not consider herself a trailblazer but she was in every sense of the word.

She was a communicant and guild member at St. Augustine’s Church. She was also past president of the VFW Auxiliary. She attended many parades with her sisters Cynthia, Madeline, Josephine and Lena and later with her daughter, Marie. They were a sight to behold.

Anna Mae took part in hospital boards and sub-committees. Even after retirement she helped out at the Edgartown Council on Aging and the senior centers in Tisbury and West Tisbury.

For the last 18 and a half years, she had lived at Cape Cod Senior Residences in Pocasset. She loved calling it her second home. She was very well-cared for by a loving staff and made several friends while living there. Her favorite pasttime was playing Scrabble and she was a champion most times.

Anna Mae is survived by her daughter Marie and her husband George Fisher, grandson Randhi Belain and great-grandson Lucas Belain; sons Francis Jr. of West Tisbury, and Robert and his wife Geraldine of Connecticut; granddaughter Mariah of Connecticut; granddaughter Johanna and her husband Eric Kubichek of New Jersey and their son Anderson, a great-grandchild of Anna Mae; son John David of Vineyard Haven and his daughters Keissila of Oak Bluffs, and Jean Marie of Georgia and her children Ezelle and Kingson, two of Anna Mae’s great-grandchildren.

She is also survived by her brothers David, John, Julio and Joseph Araujo and James Moreis of Falmouth.

She was predeceased by her Moreis brothers, Peter, Raymond, William, Antone and James II; her sisters Cynthia, Madeline and Josephine; and by Theophilus, Paul, baby Julio, John C. and Adelena, all Araujos.

She was also predeceased by her husband, Francis J. Cecilio Sr. They had met as teenagers living on Summer street in Vineyard Haven and they married in 1949. They later had four children. Their son Frank died Nov. 7, 1987 from a brain tumor.

Memorial donations can be made to Hospice and Palliative Care of Martha’s Vineyard.