Philomena Murray Ferro

She was the life of the party, but she didn’t even need a party. Have a cup of tea and a biscuit with Ena, and it was a party. She was lovely to look at, had a beautiful voice, a charming Irish accent, and one of the most engaging personalities you are likely to encounter in your lifetime. She was a brilliant storyteller, knew how to tell a joke, and her laugh was contagious.

Hers was not an easy life, but she never lost her laugh. It seemed a buoyant force that lifted her above her troubles, and would take you along with her. She laughed a lot, even in the darkest times.

Philomena “Ena” Murray was born on July 3, 1955, the sixth of nine children of James and Margaret (Hayes) Murray of Adare, Co. Limerick, Ireland. Margaret, known as “Meg”, was a native of Adare; Jim came from a farm family in Castlepark, Co. Roscommon, and became a member of the Garda, the Irish police force.

At 18, Meg had inherited a family pub, O’Shea’s, in Adare, which she and Jim ran. They lived upstairs, and had the first four of their children there.

They sold the pub (today it is called Bill Chawke’s) and moved to eventually settle in Artane, a suburb of Dublin, where Jim ran a haulage business. They had five more children. Jim’s namesake, James Murray, Jr., still resides there.

Ena, soft-hearted, loved and “mothered” Clare, her new baby sister, who died of leukemia at age 4. Her death left Ena, then 11 years old, with a heavy heart. She named her daughter in memory of Clare.

Ena was an excellent student and loved school. She attended all-girls’ elementary and high schools, St. Catherine’s School in Artane and Virgo Clemens High School in nearby Coolock. She was at the top of her class in all subjects, especially mathematics. The only subject that she struggled with was languages, but somehow she met the challenge and persevered. She knew how to work hard. She was a “fierce learner,” according to her sister Margaret.

She left high school at sixteen, and went to Jersey, one of the two largest of the Channel Islands, where she worked in catering. The islands are British-owned, close to the coast of Normandy in the English Channel, and a holiday destination for all of Europe, so she met people from everywhere. She was very versatile, could adapt to new people and places easily.

“She became a runner when she was over there. She won races, the shorter ones, for 3-5 kilometers, or 2-3 miles. Jersey is a beautiful place, and she loved living and working there, but she missed her family and Dublin,” said Margaret. Ena returned home after two years.

Ena and her younger sister Margaret were very close growing up, They were three years apart in age, but shared the same circle of friends. As younger brother Johnny grew into his teens, his older sisters included him in their jaunts into the exciting nightlife of Dublin. The three would head into Dublin around 10 pm; their mother referred to the trio as the “Midnight Warriors”.

Dublin City was twenty minutes away. Ena was 25, and knew a lot of people in the city, and this was exciting for John. Ena was friends with the leaders of the city’s social scene after dark, and they were welcomed at all the top spots.

Ena’s strong mathematical skills earned her a place as the Accounts Manager for The Grey Door, a five-star Russian restaurant close to the Dail, the Irish legislature. The clientele was made up of important “upper echelon” people. Ena lived on the premises, and loved her work. “Her personality was well-suited to that job - she had an excellent head for math and was comfortable talking to anyone. She dated the head chef for years,” said John.

“When I was in my late teens, in the mid-1970s, Ena and Margaret were my best friends. I would go out with them, dancing at the Pig & Whistle, where Ena was dating one of the deejays. She’d get me into the clubs, she knew all the right people. We had a lot of fun together,” recalled John.

“I decided to go to America, and found a job,“ said John. “Before I left in 1985, I gave Ena and Margaret my car, an all-white 1974 Vauxhall Viva. It was like a tank, had no power steering, and Ena loved driving it; Margaret not so much. It failed inspection in spectacular fashion in 1990, and the rejection document that listed all of its deficiencies is hilarious. I’ve kept a copy of it,” he said, laughing.

“A hotel maintenance company in Portland, ME, hired me, and sent me all over to hotels; I worked in Hyannis, and ultimately wound up working at the Harborview Hotel and Kelley House on Martha’s Vineyard. I liked the island, and encouraged my sisters to join me.

Margaret had moved to London, and Ena had joined her. They both worked hard, but living in the city was so expensive that they realized they’d never get ahead. By this time, John had established himself with a solid job on Martha’s Vineyard. He encouraged his sisters to join him and his wife, Carmel. They saved their money for the flight, and in March 1987, they flew west. Ena was 32, Margaret 28.

The Midnight Warriors were together again.

Ena and Margaret provided housekeeping services and support for catered events at the Harborview, and stayed in rooms that were vacant during the hotel’s off-season. At the arrival of summer and the need for the rooms, the girls and John and his wife Carmel, the beautiful red-headed receptionist, moved into an Edgartown house owned by John’s friends. It was crowded; there were nine people in all, somehow able to endure until better housing was found. This lasted for a couple of months.

Ena and Margaret found live-in jobs with a prominent family that needed household support and extra hands to manage a busy entertaining schedule that required capable and presentable individuals.

They stayed for about five years. When the employer’s wife died, and he decided to move to Concord, Mass., he wanted Ena and Margaret to remain on his staff. The sisters agreed to stay with him for six months. They fulfilled that obligation, and returned to the Vineyard.

Ena had a romantic interest waiting.

Ena was hired as a bookkeeper/manager of a convenience store at Woodland owned by the Ferro family of Vineyard Haven.

She married Vincent Ferro on April 15, 1990. Their daughter Clare Murray was born on January 5, 1991. They divorced after seven years.

In 1998, Ena was working at Educomp, a computer store and copy center in Vineyard Haven, and was looking for a summer home for herself and Clare, then 8 years old, and their four cats. Ena and her little family were caught up in the “Island Shuffle”, where people without permanent housing can only afford rentals in the off-season. Summer rentals are impossibly expensive; only summer people can afford them.

She was posting notices about her need for summer quarters. Kristy Henshaw, who enjoyed her visits to the store and visiting with Ena to hear her laugh, thought she might have found a worthy replacement for herself. She wanted to get back to Wakefield and her husband and children, but her father and his small farm needed competent and agreeable live-in help.

An unlucky day for Educomp, but a very lucky day for Craig Kingsbury and his sheep, chickens, ducks and gardens. And his stomach (Kristy was a terrible cook).

One tea time later, and Craig’s next two years were bliss. The little farm thrived. What Ena didn’t know about spring lambing or asparagus cultivation, she learned quickly. They made each other laugh. He enjoyed having Clare around, and more cats than he’d seen in years; holidays were celebrated, especially Christmas. Good food, a fire in the wood stove, Clare, cats, and ‘Ena the upbeat’ – the man could not believe his good fortune.

He drank his tea out of a chowder bowl, and it was never empty when Ena was in charge.

Ena and Clare and the cats livened up the home of the 86-year-old man who was having mobility issues, and Ena’s many talents became evident. She was a brilliant caregiver, farm manager, cook, shepherd, poultry wrangler, bookkeeper, house mother, and hostess to Craig’s family members and a variety of locals. And some “Jaws” fans.

They wanted to meet Ben Gardner, the fisherman whose head rolls out of the busted hull of his fishing boat, forcing a great scream from millions of moviegoers since 1975. Craig had played Ben Gardner, but he had also trained Robert Shaw how to talk like an authentic fisherman, which Craig certainly had been.

Ena and Clare stayed there for two years, and when she left to return to Ireland, there was great sadness at the 1056 State Road farm.

Margaret said, “Ena’s two years on the farm with Craig were some of the happiest of her life. She loved the farm, and was the happiest there. “

Ena went back to Ireland with Clare. When her Lyme disease flared up, as it often did when she was stressed, she found that Irish medicine had limited knowledge of Lyme disease. They tried to convince her that her symptoms were psychological.

She returned to America so she could get the proper medical care that she needed. Lyme disease was well-known at that time in the US and doctors knew how to treat it. She bought a house in Fitchburg and settled in with Clare and her son Airen.

Ena met Michael Moscariello online about eight or nine years ago. They dated, but lived in separate homes, he in Acton, twenty miles away, and Ena in Fitchburg.

The Moscariello name is well-known in Acton. Michael’s family owned and operated Moscariello Brothers, a power equipment store, for fifty years.

Ena went back to Ireland to reconnect with an old friend, and it did not work out. She was unhappy. Michael asked her to come back and stay with him. That was almost five years ago, and their arrangement was perfect. “We didn’t care to eat out. We liked staying home, cooking together, gardening together and spending time with each other’s families.

“She just talked about good times. We were very comfortable together. We weren’t on the same sentence, sometimes, or the same paragraph, but we were always on the same page,” he said.

Ena loved cats and all animals, wild or domestic. When having a cat was impractical in Acton, “...she made pets of the wild things,” according to Michael. “After grocery shopping, our bags contained more expensive food for her forest friends than for our own table.” he added.

The Acton house was next to 100 acres of conservation land. There was plenty of wildlife for Ena to tame with generous handouts of seeds, peanuts, walnuts, and raisins. The menu was extensive, but so was the clientele. She gave them names, and woodchucks, skunks, squirrels, possums and an assortment of birds all enjoyed a free meal and kind friends.

“At night, the camera we installed to take pictures of our visitors showed us our ‘customers’. In the morning we’d looked to see if any of our “regulars” had shown up to enjoy a snack. Ena had nicknames for all the regulars.

Last year in August, Margaret visited Ena and Michael. “In the afternoon, Ena and I would sit out in the sunshine and wait. Soon, animals appeared from the nearby woods and made their way to Ena’s chair for their daily treat. Possums, woodchucks, skunks and birds all showed up. She would spread the food around, so “everyone could have a chance at it. She had names for most of them. A skinny woodchuck received special attention; Ena saved him peanuts.”

“She had a bad cold the week she died,” said Michael. “She struggled in her last weeks with COPD, back pain, and probably a flare-up of Lyme disease. We had an appointment at Urgent Care for Thursday. After only a few minutes into the appointment, an ambulance was called and she was sent to Emerson Hospital in Concord, where she was placed under the care of Hospice.”

During her early years on Martha’s Vineyard, Ena had contracted Lyme disease, the debilitating tick-borne bacterial infection that is endemic to the island. Ena suffered from Post-Lyme Syndrome for the rest of her life. Flare-ups, often intense, would occur at random times, usually when Ena was ill with something else or stressed.

The palliative care from Hospice helped her go gentle into that good night, and a beautiful soul was called home.

FROM THOSE WHO KNEW ENA BEST:

Clare: She was strong, hard-working, outgoing, and could do anything she put her mind to. She laughed a lot. When a new trouble came our way, she’d say, “Just make me a cup of tea.” She made my friends feel welcome. Wherever we lived, she always made it “home”. She had a real green thumb, was great with animals and children. When Airen was little he liked playing with Nana. Later when he became a technology whiz and made stop-motion movies, she loved his videos - and everything else he did.

Margaret: You’d never have a better friend. She disarmed people. She wasn’t aware of how lovely she was. She was smart, could converse with anyone. She was always upbeat, not bitter about the troubles that life had handed her. Her love for people and animals and the natural world were deep and genuine. She was a good listener…and performer: during COVID, the families in Ireland connected with the families in America via Zoom. There were 20-30 people at each session; I had to get a second screen to see us all. One Zoom meeting, we had to perform. Ena, dressed up as a cowgirl, with the full outfit, boots and hat and all, Michael in the background with a cowbell, mouthed the words to “Texas Hold Em’. She brought down the house.

John: Ena was always generous, compassionate, caring, genuinely concerned with how others were doing. Very good with children, or anyone with special needs or a disability. Great to have a laugh with. Very pretty; attracted people with her personality.

Michael: She was a very honest, very loving, beautiful person. She made me think about things, to notice the world around me, to pay attention. She was proud of her running ability, and had been a very good sprinter in her 20s. She liked to solve problems; she was always brainstorming ideas on how to make things better. She believed that the natural forces, the sun and the wind, could help us save the planet. She had a keen sense of smell, and the pilot light in my propane heater bothered her. I shut it off and we used the wood stove after that. She conserved water and everything else, using dishwater in the garden. She never wasted food, either; she used leftovers to make another terrific meal. I’m not good at throwing things away, and neither was she, but I wasn’t a “collector”, and she was, but she was clever at repurposing her “finds”. She loved her 1991 red Toyota pickup truck, with a stick shift and no power steering, because she liked to “drive” a vehicle. A lot of people got a kick out of her. When Airen was in Cub Scouts, there was a Pinewood Derby, where the boys raced little wooden cars they had worked on. Ena cheered for everyone, all the little boys. I could tell people thought she was strange. She just liked to encourage everyone. Ena wasn’t shy. My nephew liked her, especially because, when Ena showed up at a party, she brought life to the group. In her last few years, when she was too sick sometimes to do housework or even cook, it made her unhappy. But she kept laughing, and reminding me of our good times. We had a lot of those.

Ena is survived by her son Dominic (Dorte) Kelly of Denmark; a daughter Clare (Leo) Ferro of Fitchburg; siblings Joseph (Maire); Sheila (Brendan) Hade; Flora (Charles) Stimpson; Mary Colgan; and James, all of Ireland; Margaret (Frederick) of Tarrytown, NY; and John of Martha’s Vineyard; six grandchildren: Cormac, Fiachra, Luke, Jake and Josh Kelly of Denmark; and Airen Ferro of Fitchburg.

She was predeceased by her parents, Jim and Meg Murray and Clare.

Family and friends will gather for Ena's graveside service on Friday, May 2, 2025, at 1:00 pm at Mt. Hope Cemetery, 166 Central St., Acton, MA.

In lieu of flowers, Ena would ask you to share a cup of tea with a friend and make them laugh.

Arrangements under the care of Concord Funeral Home, 74 Belknap Street, Concord, MA 01742 978-369-3388 www.concordfuneral.com