Ann M. (Devarenne) Stead of Lynn died at home on October 16, 2026 with her family around her. She and her husband, Charles “Doug” Stead, were married 62 years; he died before her.
She was born in Cambridge and raised in Danvers, the daughter of Charles and Mary (Powers) Devarenne. After Danvers public schools she trained at the Rittners School of Floral Design on Newbury Street in Boston and worked at a Danvers florist, the New Ocean House in Swampscott and Gould’s Florist in Lynnfield. She then stayed home for years to raise her five children. She gardened, read, did crosswords and word searches, cooked, decorated birthday cakes and dressed the house for every season, followed the Red Sox, the Patriots and golf, and was a longtime communicant of Sacred Heart Church in Lynn.
She leaves her children, Mark Stead of Wayne, Maine, and Charles “Doug” Stead, Glenn Stead, Donna McInerney and her husband Mark, and Lori Murray and her husband Bob, all of Lynn; her grandchildren, Jill Sandler and her husband Ryan, Jodi Carmody and her husband Jake, and Allison Grasso and her husband Michael; six great-grandchildren, Owen, Charlie and Leo Sandler and Sawyer, Cameron and Luke Carmody; her brother Robert Devarenne of Danvers; and many nieces and nephews. Her sister Janet Powers of Danvers died before her.
The funeral is Thursday, October 22 at noon at the Solimine Funeral Home, 426 Broadway, Lynn, with visitation from 10 a.m. The family thanks Care Dimensions and suggests donations to the Friends of Lynn Woods Rose Garden, P.O. Box 8216, Lynn, MA 01904, or Care Dimensions, 75 Sylvan Street, B-102, Danvers.
Compiled from information published by Solimine Funeral Homes. Photograph courtesy of the family via Solimine Funeral Homes. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
