Olive M. Thurston

Olive M. (Blanchard) Thurston, 87, resident of Colonie, NY, died March 10, 2011, at St. Peter’s Hospital, Albany, NY. She was born in Greenfield, NH on April 28, 1923, a daughter of the late Carroll H. Blanchard, Sr. and Alice L. (O’Brien) Blanchard. Olive grew up in Milford, where she attended the Garden Street School and graduated in 1941 from Milford High School. She attended Nashua Business College, Nashua, New Hampshire and Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts. On June 23, 1956, she married Fred Lawrence Thurston of Medford, Massachusetts and they lived in Somerville, Massachusetts until his death in 1961. Olive then moved to Albany, NY in 1961 to be with her brother, Carroll H. Blanchard, Jr., a professor at State University of New York (Suny) in Albany, NY. Olive accepted a position with the Albany Savings Bank, downtown Albany, later advanced to their branch in Colonie, and then to the branch in Schenectady, NY, where she remained until her retirement in 1992. She was a lifelong member of The American Institute of Banking. She was a member of the N.Y.S. Christian Women’s Association, N.Y.S. Historical Society and attended St. Clare’s Catholic Church in Colonie, NY. Olive enjoyed her work at Albany Savings Bank, eating out with friends, cooking and reading, especially National Geographic magazines. She also enjoyed traveling with her sister, Evelyn, and vacationing in Williamsburg, Montreal, Niagara Falls, Finger Lakes, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Olive was predeceased by her husband, Fred Lawrence Thurston; her little sister, Ruth Alice Blanchard who died in 1938 at age eleven; her brother, Carroll H. Blanchard, Jr.; aunts and uncles. She is survived by her sister, Evelyn M. Blanchard of Milford, NH; and her friend, M. Alma Smith of Troy, NY. There are no calling hours. A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, March 16th at 11:30 am in St. Patrick Church, 34 Amherst Street, Milford, NH. Burial will be in the family lot in Greenvale Cemetery, Greenfield, NH, at a later date. Donations in her memory may be made to Share Outreach, Inc., 1 Columbus Avenue, Milford, NH 03055.