Madeline Fales
Groton — Madeline Blanche (Barber) Fales passed away peacefully on Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, at Fairview in Groton. Her adoring husband, Dr. Donald G. Fales, predeceased her in April 2015 after almost 72 years of marriage.
She was born in Kobe, Japan, on Sept. 20, 1920, while her parents, W. Alexander and Blanche Barber, were missionaries there. Her father also taught math and physics at the University of Tokyo. When she was seven, the family returned to Canada and lived in Islington, West Toronto, where she was raised.
After excelling as a secretarial student, she and a girlfriend ventured a move to Baltimore, Md. from Canada to work with the British Overseas Air Corp early in World War II. She worked in the signals and statistical department where she decoded messages and was proficient in Morse code. While on duty, she received the message that Churchill would be arriving in the U.S. for the secret meeting with Roosevelt and Stalin. She delivered the message of his arrival and saw him in the hangar.
In Baltimore in the fall of 1942 she met the love of her life, Donald Garcelon Fales, a dental student at the University of Maryland and soon to be a Naval officer. They married Dec. 27, 1943, and lived in Baltimore until he was sent to practice dentistry at the Naval Airbase in Pensacola, Fla. In 1945, Donald was sent as a naval dentist to Pearl Harbor. After the war, they lived in Baltimore where he set up a dental practice. He was later called into the Korean War, which ended soon after, so they moved to Connecticut with their four children in 1953. They made their first home in Noank and later in Mystic.
Madeline was a woman of strong Christian faith and lived the definition of love, grace and kindness. She loved the Bible, her family, golf, bridge, knitting, sewing, entertaining and travel. She was active on the leadership team of the Christian Women’s Club, a charter member of the Mystic Women’s Club and its thrift shop store and enjoyed her golf and bridge groups. She attended the Groton Bible Chapel. Madeline was an adoring and much loved wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister and friend to many.
She and Donald loved spending their 38 winters in Boca Raton, Fla. when he retired from his dental practice in Groton; they had many cherished friends there.
Besides her husband, she was predeceased by her parents; her only brother, Howard Barber; and three sisters, Doris Beveridge, Ruth Maloney and Bette Cameron; and a son-in-law, Atty. Douglas Johnson.
She is surived by one sister, Grace MacGillivray in Canada; and many nieces and nephews and their families. She leaves three daughters, Donalyne Plankeel (Dr. John P.), Lolly Stoddard (Duncan) and Victoria Johnson (Atty. Douglas, deceased); and her son, Dr. David Fales (Dr. Judith). Nana will also be missed by her 11 adoring grandchildren and their spouses: John F. Plankeel (Julie), Julie Duba (Greg), Jeffrey Plankeel (Renee), Christy Gustafson (Craig), Andrew Stoddard (Ari), John Stoddard (Kirsten), Kelli Cook (Josh), Abbi Strawser (Bradley), Libbi Pell (Nate), Douglas Fales (Elly), Elizabeth Peterson (Joel); Madeline also had 28 great-grandchildren and another on the way.
The family wishes to thank Dr. Ed McDermott and the staff at Fairview for their excellent and loving care.
A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Friday, Dec. 15, at Groton Bible Chapel, 66 Tollgate Road, Groton. Burial will be private. There are no calling hours.
In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to World Vision, P.O. Box 78481, Tacoma, WA 98481 or Tel. 1-888-511-6519. Refer to the Madeline Fales Memorial Fund, Source # 31003793.