Patricia A. Canney-Woods

Patricia A. Canney-Woods of Ayer, Massachusetts, passed away peacefully, strong in her Catholic faith, with her family by her side on Tuesday, May 12, 2026, at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts. She was 91 years old.

Born in Colebrook, New Hampshire, on March 6, 1935, she was the daughter of dairy farmers Armand and Delvina Coupal, both deceased. Her only sibling, Robert A. Coupal, predeceased her.

After moving to Westford with her mother and brother to be closer to her father’s parents, she attended the Westford public school system, graduating from Westford Academy in 1954, while living in the Forge Village section of town. After high school, she completed her studies at Tewksbury State Hospital in its LPN nurse training program, then passed the Massachusetts state boards to become a LPN. This medical training she found proved helpful to family and friends over the ensuing decades.

On May 12, 1957, she married John C. Canney a cattle dealer from Dracut and moved to Dracut to make her home. Together they had three sons. In 1977, she moved to Westford, after a divorce. On May 19, 1990, she married, Clayton J. Woods of Groton and made their home in Ayer where she continued to live after his death.

Her work life included multiple interests. While working for Analog Devices Semiconductor in Wilmington, she invested in single and multi-family residential housing and worked with her sons in those pursuits while pursuing other business interests. She was seemingly everywhere when needed and seized life in a serious, focused, dedicated, good natured, and loving manner. “Come on boys. There’s no time to waste. There’s work to do.”

Life was not all work though. She traveled to Hawaii three times, which she thought was one of her greatest accomplishments. Each time was with family, and her number one trip, which she never forgot and often spoke was with her mother. For two weeks, free as birds, they enjoyed each other and Hawaii’s beauty. Her other treasured memories were camping, campfires, storytelling, s’mores, strawberry picking in Canada, and trout fishing in the Mohawk River in the Colebrook area of northern New Hampshire during the 1970s when the whole family, including her mother and brother, spent time in a big yellow canvas, red stripped “circus tent” on cots and sleeping bags. “Good night, John Boy” and laughter can still be heard in those North Country hills. She loved photography, and entered landscape, flower, and pet photos in various agricultural fairs, principally the Lancaster Fair in Lancaster, New Hampshire, winning numerous fair ribbons. She was never without her beloved Boston Terriers and house cats. She considered them part of the family too. She loved watching wild birds at her feeders while searching her Peterson Field Guides to identify them. And she made it a point to share each holiday through the years with her sons, daughters-in-law, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The eeriness and spookiness of Halloween, the sensation of Thanksgiving’s home cooked meals and smells, the wonder of Christmas, the promises of the New Year, the green of St. Patrick’s Day, the rebirth of life with Easter, the solemnity of Memorial Day, and the red, white, and blue of the Fourth of July. She made magical memories for each generation.

When time and age outgrew tenting, she and the family invested in a camp in Pittsburg, New Hampshire, “Camp Canney”, to be shared year-round and enjoyed by family, friends, and pets during each of New England’s spectacular four seasons.

Not wishing to retire to Florida, she remained a staunch New Englander throughout her life. Being close to her family brought her greater warmth than any outside temperature. And by being home, she was near her family where she felt most needed to provide understanding, encouragement, wisdom, life’s lessons, and love every day.

She is irreplaceable. What she gave to her family and all those who knew and loved her can never be given back to her in equal measure. There was just too much to pay back. Having learned her life lessons, those who remain can only pass forward to others what she taught and shared. That is her legacy.

Pat is survived by her sons, John C. Canney, II, and his wife Julie; David R. Canney and his wife Renee, all of Ayer; and Mark T. Canney, and his wife Cheryl of Eastport, Maine; her granddaughter Christina M. Canney, and her grandson David R. Canney, II, and his wife Jacqueline, all of Ayer. A granddaughter by marriage, Jennifer L. Clayman, and her husband Danny M., her great-grandchildren by marriage, Jaxon F., Emberly R., (predeceased), and Anthony C. Clayman, all of Rindge, New Hampshire. A grandson by marriage, Michael Ahern and his wife Deanna of Walla Walla, Washington; a granddaughter by marriage, Mary Ahern and her fiancé Marcellus Lee and her great-grandchildren by marriage, Via L. and Roman M. Lee, all of Winthrop, Massachusetts. A granddaughter by marriage, Kelly A. Schimke and a great-grandson by marriage, Austin W. Schimke, all of Westford, Massachusetts.

Services will be held Thursday, May 21, 2026, at 11:00 AM at St. Benedict Abbey, 252 Still River Rd Harvard, Massachusetts. Burial will follow at St. Catherine of Alexandria Cemetery in the family plot at 20 Pine Ridge Rd Westford, Massachusetts.