Helen McDonough, 95, of Waltham, Worked for former Gov. Curley

Waltham’s Helen McDonough, a former maid for and staunch defender of former Governor James Curley died on July 22 at the age of 95.

She immigrated to Boston from Ireland and she worked for Curley beginning in 1938. Even after being laid off by the former Boston mayor she defended him to the end., even delaying her wedding to her husband Joe so that Curley could finish his second prison term so that he could walk her down the aisle, according to a story in the Boston Globe.

She was the youngest of 12 children.

She is survived by her children, Joseph P. McDonough of Hamden, Conn., Gerald A.McDonough and his wife Mary Ann Hart,of Cambridge, Barbara A. McDonough-Williamson and her husband Paul Williamson of Billerica and John E. McDonoughand his wife Janice Furlong of Brookline; her step-daughter Sandra Buck of Scotland; her grandchildren, Matthew, Molly, Kevin, Katherine, Devlin, Amy, Jax, and Thomas and many nieces and nephews, according to an obituary on the Joyce Funeral Home website.

Services were held Monday at St. Luke’s Church in Belmont and she was buried at St. Patrick’s Cemetery in Watertown.