Peabody - Edith C. McGuinness, 88, died peacefully at Brooksby Village in Peabody on November 17, 2022. She had struggled with Alzheimer’s disease, surrounded by loving family, for several years.

Born in Boston on December 2, 1933, Eadie was the only child of Vincenzo and Catherine (Crisafulli) Calcagno of Novara di Sicilia, Italy. She grew up in Nashua, NH among a large and adoring Italian family who embraced her with lifelong devotion. Through most of her years, Eadie lived in the Cape-style house her father built for the family in Lexington, until she moved into senior living in 2009. A graduate of Somerville High School, Eadie prepared for a successful corporate career at the Katherine Gibbs School.

“Amid all the changes in women’s roles, Eadie was my inspiration when coming of age in the early ‘70s,” her stepdaughter Sheila McGuinness said. “In a time before that mid-century rise of feminism, she trained as a legal secretary, later as a paralegal, then worked a path to success at iconic Boston institutions including State Street Bank and Cabot Corporation, where she oversaw real estate matters.”

In her 30s, Eadie met her beloved husband, the late James McGuinness, and his six children, who welcomed her into their family. Through the vagaries of caring for aging parents and rearing children, their romance thrived for 15 years before they married in 1984. They remained together till his death three years later.

While continuing to achieve at her job, Eadie showed great compassion as she balanced the daily needs of her aging parents in hospitals and nursing homes. She showed her truest colors when, during her husband’s final year, she left that job to care for him at home. After his death, she finished her career before retiring as the Corporate Secretary of Cabot Carbon Ltd. U.K. in 1999. Throughout, she was an avid traveler and supporter of the arts—passions she enjoyed with her family. A dedicated volunteer, she provided support in reading to Peabody’s elementary schoolchildren.

Faith was Eadie’s center and her rock. She frequented Catholic women’s retreats, and was an active communicant of St. Brigid parish in Lexington as well as St. Agnes church in Middleton. She will be remembered for her profound kindness, easy laugh, limitless work ethic, big heart, and twinkling blue eyes.

She is survived by many devoted cousins in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, Virginia and Florida. Six stepchildren also survive her: Maureen McGuinness of Charlton, MA; Sharon McGuinness, of Hazel Park, MI; Sheila McGuinness and partner, Michael Wright of Provincetown; Shawn and wife Mary Louise McGuinness of Moultonboro, NH; Patricia McGuinness of Highlands Ranch, CO; and Theresa McGuinness of Swampscott, MA. In addition, she is survived by six step-grandchildren and three step-great-grandchildren.

ARRANGEMENTS: A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Brigid Parish, 2001 Massachusetts Ave., Lexington on Monday, November 28, 2022 at 10 a.m. with entombment to follow at Mt. Auburn Cemetery, 580 Mount Auburn St., Cambridge. Messages of condolence may be left on the website of Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home, 82 Lynn St., Peabody (www.ccbfuneral.com). Memorial donations may be made in Edith’s name to Care Dimensions Hospice, 75 Sylvan St., Suite B-102, Danvers, MA 01923.