Elizabeth C. (GARRITY) Lawler, 87, formerly of Cumberland, RI, sadly passed away on Sunday, December 29, 2024 at her home in Hyattsville, MD.  She was the wife of the late John B. Lawler, Sr.; they were married for 50 years.

Born in Worcester, MA, she was the daughter of Edward J. Garrity, Sr. and Mary L. (Thompson) Garrity and grew up in Uxbridge, MA.  After marriage and the start of a growing family, they moved to Cumberland in 1968, where she and her husband raised the family.  Shortly after the death of her husband in 2014, she moved to Hyattsville, MD, a suburb of Washington DC, to live in the loving care of her daughter for the remainder of her life.

Elizabeth, called Beppe, a nickname coined by her brother as a child, later somehow morphed to Lovie (that came from her husband John) and became a loving joke in all circles.  "Beppe" graduated from Elms College in Chicopee, MA, in 1959 with a degree in English and became a teacher.

In later life, after home making and child raising, she returned to her vocation and was a teacher for the developmentally disabled in the King Phillip Regional School District.

Beppe was a communicant of St. John Vianney Church, Cumberland.  She enjoyed reading and was rarely without a book and her library card in hand, and also enjoyed watching the NFL, Bruins hockey, Celtics basketball, and keeping in touch with family and friends.

She is predeceased by her husband John and leaves her children John B. Lawler Jr. of New Jersey, Sarah M. Lawler of Maryland and Edward "Ted" G. Lawler of Maine, and her brother Edward J. Garrity Jr. Her older sister Mary Ellen Garrity passed some years before.  In addition, she leaves six grandchildren, one great grandchild as well as several nieces and nephews to keep her memory alive with more than one or two lively stories.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to Requiem Mass to be held with on Thursday, January 9, 2025, at 10:30 AM at St. John Vianney Church, Diamond Hill Road, Cumberland.  Visitation will be held at the church beginning at 9:30 AM. Burial will follow in the Resurrection Cemetery, Cumberland.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to Elms College.