Lifelong Provincetown resident Florence (Santos) Chaddock died peacefully of natural causes at home on May 9, 2022. She was 93.
The daughter of Georgianna (Santos) Cable, Florence was born on Feb. 12, 1929; she grew up in Provincetown and attended elementary school here. Because of the deprivations caused by the Depression, she left school before completing the fifth grade to work at the old fish packing plant on MacMillan Pier.
Despite hardships, she loved to sing and dance, and in the years after World War II she would go to the dances sponsored by the VFW. There she met Earle Chaddock, a divorced man from California who was stationed at the Air Force base in Truro. They married in September 1953.
After Earle left the service, he stayed with Florence in Provincetown where he worked for the town for many years while she worked at various motels in town as a chambermaid. They were married for 58 years.
Earle was a member of the VFW, so Florence joined the Ladies Auxiliary. They enjoyed marching in parades, he with the men and she with the women. Her granddaughter, Serena Carreiro, recalls how Florence loved to ride in the fire engine during the town’s Fourth of July parade, where, Serena said, “She did the Queen of England wave thing.”
She never lost her love of dancing or of animals. In later life, she enjoyed playing Bingo and helping at the Gathering Place in Eastham, where she went two days a week and made many good friends.
She also looked forward to having lunch with her friends at the Soup Kitchen and spending time with her family.
Florence is survived by her son, Jordan Fowler of West Wareham; granddaughter Serena Carreiro and husband Joel of Provincetown; great-granddaughters Jaclyn Murphy of Provincetown and Nicole Murphy of Harwich; and several cousins.
She was predeceased by her husband, Earle, in 2011.
A memorial service will take place at 10 a.m. on Thursday, June 2 at the Provincetown Methodist Church.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations in her honor go to the Soup Kitchen in Provincetown (skipfood.org); the Carrie A. Seamen Animal Shelter (casasanimalshelter.org); or Hospice of Cape Cod (hospicecapecod.org).
