Elsie Irene (Tandy) Stone

WORCESTER - Elsie Irene (Tandy) Stone, 91, of Worcester, Massachusetts, died June 30, 2022 after a brief illness at home. She and her sister were brought up in a New Hampshire orphanage as wards of the state, and at thirteen the state ended their education and sent them out to work.  Despite this difficult start in life, she overcame her impossible beginnings, which speaks to how amazing a woman she was and is.

Born January 27, 1931, in Fitchburg, MA, she was the daughter of Everett J. Tandy and Margaret L. (Chase) Tandy who died when Elsie and her sister Virginia were very young.

Elsie married Russell A. Stone on November 22, 1958 in Worcester and became a mother to daughter Cynthia. She was an active parent at Oxford Street Elementary School and the Marlene Francis School of the Dance.  

Following his military service, Russell & Elsie moved to Worcester where he worked for the City Maintenance Department.  She was widowed in 1990 and for the next three decades she traveled all over the U.S. and made multiple trips to Europe with various church and women’s groups.

She attended Aldersgate & Epworth United Methodist Churches and was an active member of the Worcester and Pomona Granges. Her women’s “daytrippers club” took her around New England providing many opportunities as a widow.

She is survived by her daughter Cynthia Stone and her wife Amy Benckart of Bloomington, Indiana and her goddaughter Tabitha Comptois of Millbury.

Elsie is also survived by her brothers Robert Tandy of Haverhill, MA; Richard Tandy of Randlett, UT; and her sister Laura Doerfler of Acton, MA and many loving nieces and nephews.  She was preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her sister Virginia (Tandy) Saunders of Concord, NH and a brother, Donald Berry Tandy of Griswold, CT.

The family is grateful to the wonderful neighbors who watched over her at home the past few years. Most especially Kathy Belvhalia, Evelyn Dillon, Wilson Montalvo & Janine Baker – it takes a village to help someone make it into their 90s and still live at home alone.

A Celebration of Life will be at 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, July 26, 2022 at Epworth United Methodist Church, 64 Salisbury St, Worcester, with Pastor Kenneth Mantler officiating, and assisted by Pastor Nancy Collins.  A private burial will be held at Woodside Cemetery in Westminster at a later date.  Friends may visit with family members at Epworth Methodist from 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. prior to the service.  Rice Funeral Home, 300 Park Avenue, Worcester, MA 01609 is handling the arrangements.  In lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to honor Elsie Stone may want to consider a gift to The IU Foundation "Payne-Stone Scholarship” P.O. Box 6460, Indianapolis, IN 46206, or to Epworth United Methodist Church.

You are invited to share a memory or leave an online condolence for Elsie’s family at https://www.ricefuneralhome.com

In Elsie’s passing, the Boston Red Sox have lost one of their most ardent fans of almost a century!