Priscilla (Bates) Mercurio, 86, of Bolton and formerly of Sudbury, died on Thursday, August 18, 2011 at Emerson Hospital in Concord after a short illness.
She was the beloved wife of Joseph Mercurio who passed away in 2006.
Mrs. Mercurio was a 1942 graduate of Abington High School. On her 18th birthday she took a train to CT to find a job and a place to live. She was immediately employed in the mailroom at Sikorsky Aircraft. They soon recognized her artistic talents and Priscilla became their first female Technical Illustrator. She attended Cooper Union College in NYC where she was formerly trained. She then joined Vought Aeronautical in NYC.
After the war, she met her husband, Joseph Mercurio and moved back to Massachusetts where they were married in 1948. She worked briefly at Sylvania as a Technical Illustrator until her first child was born in 1950. Mrs. Mercurio then took time out from her career to raise her 6 children. She was a devoted mother and always put her family first. Realizing how much she missed drawing, when her youngest child was 10 she started painting landscapes, antique homes, and portraits in water color. Priscilla sold many of her paintings at county fairs, church fairs and crafts fairs. While she was manning her booth at these fairs she would always be busy drawing charcoal portraits of children. There would always be a long line of customers waiting for her talented fingers to do their magic.
Priscilla was a member of Sudbury Art Association, where she was a past president and she was an active member of the First Parish of Stow & Acton.
She is survived by her 6 children, Paul Mercurio and his wife Gretchen Krugler of Auburn, CA; Pamela Hanner and her husband Karl of Southborough; James Mercurio of Northborough; Mark Mercurio of Danbury, CT; Joe Mercurio of Bolton and his wife Phyllis Mercurio of West Hartford; Linda Cramer and her husband Andy of Meadow Vista, CA. 4 grandchildren, Olivia & Emily Mercurio and Carly & Madeline Cramer.
She was predeceased by her sister Sylvia Pandell.
There are no visiting hours.
A memorial service will be held on Sunday, August 28 at 2 PM at the First Parish of Stow & Acton, 353 Great Rd, Stow. Burial will be private in the New Town Cemetery in Sudbury.
Memorial contributions may be sent in her memory to the Alliance for the Mentally Ill, 11 Robertson Rd, Framingham, MA 01701
Arrangements are under the direction of the Morris Funeral Home, 40 Main Street, Southborough, (morrisfuneralparlor.com).
(Obituary courtesy of Morris Funeral Home, Southborough)
