Angela Foley

Angela Foley, 88, Mother of Twelve and Five Decade Volunteer    Angela Foley, 88, died of natural causes over the weekend.   She was an only child who raised twelve children, was still active right up until her death in the daily lives of her 28 grandchildren and four great grandchildren and was married to her late husband Jack for 55 years.  Mrs. Foley was raised in Reading and Conshohocken by her parents, Helen and John Aloysius Keltz and lived in Ambler and Flourtown for the last 66 years of her life.    Born in 1930, Angela was a proud 1948 graduate of the former St. Matthew’s High School in Conshohocken, a town where she made friends that lasted her a lifetime.  She married Jack Foley in 1951, whom she met in Wildwood, NJ when she was 19.  He was a first generation Irish American who grew up in Germantown, played football at North Catholic and with the Olney Vets and spent four decades working alongside his two brothers on the shop floor at Honeywell.  Together, Angela and Jack raised their family, built and improved their home and led an active life in their church and community.   When the last child was off to school, she worked outside the home as an office manager.   Through her lifetime, she never varied in her dedication to her family—there was always a meal in the oven for the last straggler to get home from an after school activity, a part time job or a sporting event.  And she kept her door (and kitchen) open for anyone her children dragged through the door with them.  One of her sons said that his mother “was Uber before there was Uber, logging thousands of hours transporting her kids and then her grandkids to and from schools, sports, church and community events.”  She was active with school, church and youth projects at St. Joseph’s in Ambler, at St. Genevieve’s in Flourtown, at Bishop McDevitt in Wyncote, at Penn Charter in Philadelphia, and at the Mount in Flourtown.  She and her husband had five decade careers as volunteers—supporting the activities in which her children and then grandchildren were engaged, working church carnivals alongside each other and leaving a mark wherever her family lived or her children went to school.      Though she never wore it on her sleeve, she believed strongly in the value of education (her husband often said that “no one can ever take that away from you”) and once she had time (after her children were raised) became a voracious reader and a highly educated consumer of the nightly news.  Though their own parents never had the chance to go to high school, Jack and Angela wanted that and more for their children.  With their encouragement all her children had the chance to go to college on a wide variety of academic and athletic scholarships.  She and Jack framed all their degrees—from Gwynedd Mercy, Ithaca, Peirce, Dartmouth, Northeastern, Penn, Widener, Drexel, Catholic, Temple and Yale--and gave them the place of honor in the family home.   She often marveled at the degrees accumulated by her children, who quickly reminded her that they were all direct descendants of her brains and her work ethic—she deployed all the skills of a quartermaster, an engineer and an economist in making ends meet every week, in ensuring that the schedules of her 12 children meshed and in making it possible for her husband Jack to pursue so avidly his avocation—founding and coaching youth sports programs for four decades.  Her affection for Jack and her dedication to her large family was evident every day of her life.   Angela was also a woman of faith, who led by example not exhortation.  Her husband Jack used to say that she was “the defender of the faith, and the children!!”  On long family car trips, several of her children remembered discovering that she clasped her rosary beads in her right hand, hidden in the space between the seat and the door, peeling off the Hail Marys so that we would get there on time and in one piece.  She was also devoted to novenas at the Immaculate Conception Shrine in Germantown (though some of us thought that was an excuse to get away from us for a couple of hours!!).   Angela is survived by all 12 of her children [Maria, Jack (Rita), Tom (Michele), Kevin (Gail), Terrence (Rosemary), Maureen (Deac), Mike, Jimmy (Maryjo), Ed (Debbie), Angela (Rob), Dennis (Veronica) and Regina (Eric)], by her 28 grandchildren and her four great grandchildren, and by a host of her cousins.   Relatives and friends are invited to her viewings Friday 6-9PM and Saturday 9-11AM at St. Genevieve Church 1225 Bethlehem Pike Flourtown, PA 19031.  Funeral Mass will follow Saturday at 11AM.  Interment Calvary Cem.  In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to either St. Genevieve School 1237 Bethlehem Pike Flourtown, PA 19031 www.stgens.com, or to The Sisters of Saint Joseph Welcome Center 728 E. Allegheny Ave Philadelphia, PA 19134 ssjwelcomecenter.org.