Monica Ruth Pattangall of Lenox died March 11, 2025, in Troy, N.Y., after a brief illness. She was born in Fall River on January 28, 1945. She was the daughter and only child of Sewall Lincoln Pattangall of Brockton and Ruth Patricia Connors of Fall River. She grew up in Attleboro and was a 1963 graduate of Attleboro High School and a 1967 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Monica is survived by one daughter, Rebecca Catherine Glass Mitchell of Galway, N.Y., and two grandchildren, Samuel Lincoln Mitchell and Emma Gretchen Mitchell. Monica was predeceased in 2023 by her lifetime companion of over 40 years, John J. Vahle of Lenox.
Monica moved to Lenox in 1969, to Lanesboro in 1972, and back to Lenox in 1990. Her first career was in information technology, working in software development and project management in businesses such as Berkshire Life, Sheaffer Eaton, Fleet Bank, GE Plastics, and KB Toys until her 2007 retirement.
Her second career was as a genealogist, specializing in colonial New England families. She began her genealogy work in 2008 and was still an active genealogist at the time of her death. Her father had left her a legacy to encourage her pursuit of his ancestry. After receiving her certification in genealogy, Monica documented his descent from 11 Mayflower passengers. She found among her father’s ancestors 19 Patriots of the American Revolution and countless veterans of the colonial wars. She was a member of both the General Society of Mayflower Descendants and the National Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. Through researching her father’s ancestry, she also joined Order of the Crown of Charlemagne, the Baronial Order of the Magna Carta, and 15 other lineage societies.
Monica developed a love for maritime history, and in pursuit of that, she and John traveled for 10 years visiting ports and burial grounds along the East Coast and cruising the Caribbean, documenting the lives of Monica’s maritime ancestors. In 2016, she published “Fifty-Five Years at Sea,” the life story of her grandfather’s grandfather, Capt. William Sewall Nickels of Maine, a Searsport Sea Captain. The book is in the public domain because she wanted it to outlive her.
A memorial service will be held in the spring, with a date to be determined. There will be no calling hours. Burial will be held in St. Ann Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations in Monica’s memory may be made to the Berkshire Humane Society in care of the Roche Funeral Home, 120 Main Street, Lenox, MA 01240. To share memories and stories please visit the funeral home’s website.
