Sylvia Squires

It is with great sadness that the family of Sylvia Squires announces her passing at age 80 on Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2025 at her home in Dingman Township, Milford, Pike County, Pa.

Sylvia was born Sept. 19, 1944 in a thatched roof cottage in Shannonspark East near Easkey, County Sligo, Ireland, the daughter of James Johnston and Mary Isabel “Mabel” Morrison. She grew up attending a one-room school until June 1, 1957, when at age 12, she was sent alone across the Atlantic on the M.V. Britannic ocean liner from Cobh to New York to live with an aunt in Great Neck on New York’s Long Island, where she graduated high school in 1962.

On Sept. 28, 1962, she married Charles Sanford Squires at the First Presbyterian Church in New Hyde Park, N.Y. They had met at a church dance in Great Neck. Though proud of her Irish heritage, she loved America, and on March 15, 1963, she became a citizen of the United States. They lived where work took them: first to Bermuda, and then on Long Island to Floral Park, Bay Shore, Saint James, Lake Success, Hicksville, and East Norwich. For a time, she worked as a Medical Secretary at North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset, N.Y. Charles and Sylvia retired in 1995 and moved to their Pennsylvania forested mountain lakeside paradise. They also traveled the world, visiting Belize, Canada, many Caribbean islands, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, the Panama Canal, and Tanzania.

Sylvia was predeceased by her parents and an infant sister, Maudie Marion Johnston.

She is survived by her husband of almost 63 years, Charles; their three children and their spouses: Charles Sanford Squires, Jr. (Daniel Lawrence Ross) of Madison, Wis.; Andrew James (Alicia Margaret) Squires living next door in Milford; and Susan Erin (Matthew James) Malvese of Medfield, Mass.; their five grandchildren: the Squires grandkids Andrew James, Jr. (engaged to Riley) of Glen Carbon, Illinois, and Alexander Charles nearby in Milford; and the Malvese grandkids Matthew James, Jr., Katelyn Erin, and Nathan Vincent, all of Medfield, Mass.; her sister Eileen Gladys (William Joseph) Martin of Ballymurray near Ballymote, County Sligo, Ireland; and her brother James Morrison “Morris” (Dawn) Johnston of The Plains near Boyle, County Roscommon, Ireland; as well as nephews, nieces, and cousins across the U.S., Ireland, England, and beyond.

Sylvia has been cremated, her ashes to be mixed with her husband’s and interred together in the future. A memorial celebration of their lives together will be held by their family. The family also extends its deepest appreciation and love to Sylvia’s dedicated caregivers: Ashley, Cindy, Melissa, and Ola.

Arrangements entrusted to Stroyan Funeral Home, 405 West Harford St., Milford, Pa. (www.stroyanfuneralhome.com).