Margaret E. Tormey

Pawtucket – Margaret E.

Tormey, 77, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, January 10, 2024.

This obituary is for all the unsung heroines like Peg Tormey who spend their lives doing countless kind acts for people and who strive to make this world a better place.

You may have come across Peg if you were a wait staff, particularly after COVID.

In addition to her usual 25% tip on the tab, she was the white haired lady who slipped you an additional $20.

She was the angel who overheard what you couldn’t buy for yourself or your children in the store that day and who gave you the money.

Peg always respected hard-working people.

She paid her University of Rhode Island tuition by working full time at menial jobs, including at a factory cutting jewelry boxes in Pawtucket.

She remembered her co-workers who told her she would make something of herself because she was getting a college education and she decided not to disappoint them.

Even back then she was a fearless advocate for the downtrodden.

She challenged the straw boss that stormed the ladies room to snatch an orange, the worker’s lunch, out of the woman’s hands and threw it away in the garbage.

Peg spoke up in defense of the lunch eater and avoided getting fired since she was the fastest worker on the production line.

After college she went into jobs that helped people, first in Head Start.

She became executive director of RIPAS, an advocacy agency for handicapped children and she worked tirelessly to make school districts comply with the requirements of PL 94-142 which mandated individualized educational programs for those who had previously been left behind or stigmatized as the “dumb kids”.

She risked her job when she challenged the Governor to stop the inadequate care of mentally retarded adults herded into Ladd School.

Her efforts lead to a global settlement which closed Ladd and opened group homes and programs in conjunction with RIARC for the prior Ladd residents.

Peg kept track of both criminal and consumer cases on her ever present index cards (she hated technology) during the administrations of Attorneys General Arlene Violet and Jeff Pine, and never had a case booted because of a lack of a speedy trial.

She wrapped up her professional career at the YMCA in Lincoln where as chief financial officer she astutely knew when to give a fee break to families undergoing hard times.

Peg was the daughter of the late Pawtucket police detective John P.

Tormey and homemaker, Marie L. (McManus) Tormey.

She was predeceased by her brother, Andrew P.

Tormey and is survived by her brother, John C.

Tormey and wonderful nieces and nephews, Gayle, Kathleen, Patrick, Sean and Ryan.

She leaves behind her cousin, Patricia Henry who was like a sister to her and cousins, Kathleen Blasi and Sister Mary McManus and a boatload of loyal friends, including her best friend of 45 years, Arlene Violet, who only recently received best friend status after Peg’s beloved dog, Dash, died.

Her funeral will be held on Tuesday, January 16, 2024 at 9 a.m. from WILLIAM W.

TRIPP Funeral Home, 1008 Newport Ave., Pawtucket, followed by a Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. at St Margaret Church, 1098 Pawtucket Ave., Rumford.

Interment will follow at Mt.

Mary Cemetery, Pawtucket.

VISITATION will be held on Monday from 4 p.m. until 6 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to the Margaret Tormey Scholarship Fund at Roger Williams Law School for students who pro bono represent the indigent, the handicapped or civil rights litigants or perform your own act of kindness today in her memory.

For online condolences visit: trippfuneralhome.com