Jane Flood—a former university dining worker—passed away at 76 on Jan. 5, 2023. Flood worked at the university starting in 1993 and created a legacy among students.
Flood began working at the university in Dining Services, aaccording to Framingham Source. She worked the register in Lower Usdan Dining Hall where she connected with students. Flood was “treasured by all the students she encountered, [Flood] would listen to their stories, from what happened in class to what they aspired to do after graduation, and she would pray for their success,” according to her obituary.
Flood—then O’Brien—gave “the students a story of her own to root for,” according to her obituary. This was when Flood began a relationship with a janitor at the university, Michael J. Flood. According to the obituary, they married “after countless early mornings and late nights spent together in the halls of Usdan.” The two were together until Flood’s passing on Jan. 5; they were longtime residents of Framingham. The pair would often take long walks together, practice Tai chi at their YMCA and vacation in Cape Cod, according to Flood’s obituary.
Flood, who was born and raised in Waltham, was heavily involved in the communities she was in. Together with her first husband, John “Rocky” Bellan, she opened a tow-trucking company with only one truck and one employee, according to her obituary. In the next 20 years, the two would expand their company to “twenty trucks and dozens of employees who became their closest friends.”
Flood and Bellan raised their son John “Jack” Francis Bellan in Waltham. Flood’s first husband Bellan passed away in 1993, around the time she began working at the university. Flood continued her community involvement through her parish at Saint George in Saxonville. For years, Flood was a member of the church’s choir and regularly attended mass. Flood was also involved with yard sales and hosted spaghetti dinners for members in the community, according to her obituary. “[Flood] who always looked out for the underdog, was there for the church no matter what they needed,” reads her obituary. Furthering her invovlement in her parish, Flood was a Sunday school teacher of The Confraternity of Christian Doctrine (CCD).
Flood was loved by her family; she is survived by her husband, her son and her three grandchildren. Every Friday Flood watched her grandchildren and cared for her elderly stepmother-in-law,Martha (Knowles) Bellan. Flood would share “vibrant stories” about her life with her grandchildren on Fridays. In the stories she shared with her family she included “how she would shed a tear and offer hugs to students she loved at Brandeis who graduated,” according to her obituary.
Flood was put to rest in Calvary Cemetery in Waltham, the place where she was born and where she started her family.
