Bertha Lorraine DeSimone

BAR HARBOR, ME Bertha Lorraine (Blood) DeSimone, 81, died peacefully in her home in Bar Harbor, Maine on June 17. She was born in Boston on April 12, 1928, the daughter of James E. and Bertha (Feeley) Blood. She grew up in Jamaica Plain with her two brothers and eight sisters. Mrs. DeSimone served in the Women's Army Corps in St. Louis in the early 1950's. She married the late Andrew A. DeSimone in 1956 and raised her two sons in Braintree, where she owned Granite Park Realty with her sister, Norma. She moved to Chatham in 1987 and operated DeSimone's Italian Villa with her husband, with help from her sisters Patty and Thelma. Mrs. DeSimone treasured her family get togethers, where food, cards, and laughs were always in abundance. She enjoyed bridge parties, golf, and the Red Sox, where she relived her days as a pitcher for the Army softball team. She loved crossing the Sagamore Bridge to Cape Cod and enjoyed hibachi cooking on Monomoy Island with her close friend, Helen Carey (traveling home in the fog on more than one occasion). After moving to Methuen, MA, she worked in the food industry with her dear friend, Shirley Cappello, and never turned down a chance to visit the slots with her many friends from Park Gardens. She helped in her family's business in Maine, starting in 1978, and later returned to Bar Harbor in 2005 to live. Mrs. DeSimone was cared for in her last year by her wonderful companion, and adopted daughter, Beth Maglalang and her Aunt Lille. She is survived by her son, James, of New York City, and his partner, Danny, her son Robert, of Bar Harbor, Maine, and his wife, Olie; her sisters, Eileen Chitro, of Waterford, CT, Barbara King, of Braintree, MA, and her husband, Bob, Jeanne Swensen, of Nampa, ID, and her husband, Ralph, and her sister-in-law, Louise Blood, of Harwich, MA, and sister-In-law, Mary Baldassare, of Boston, as well as many beloved nieces and nephews, including Marianne, Shelley, Patty, Pammy, Dana, Bobby, Nancy, Judy, Donald, Karen, Carol, Jo-An, and Stefano, and dear friend, Shirley Cappello, of Methuen, MA. She is also survived by her dialysis caregivers Vicki Hart, Amy King, and all of the caring folks at Eastem Maine Dialysis Center, her physician, Lee Haynes, and assistant, Necie, and her visiting nurse, Emma Lansing. She was predeceased by her sisters, Marian Green, Thelma Phillips, Dorothy Carabbio, Norma Faenza, Patricia Reagan; and her brothers, James, and Arthur, and her dear friends Helen Carey and Julie Lindsay. She loved animals and sorely missed her family pets, Tank and Trixie, and is survived by Cubbie the dog and Nibble the cat, who, despite her best efforts, never quite saw eye to eye. Visiting Hours will be held from 9:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. on Monday, June 22, 2009, at McMaster Funeral Home, 86 Franklin Street, Braintree, MA, with a blessing at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be directly afterwards at Blue Hill Cemetery, 700 West Street, Braintree, MA. Contributions may be made to SPCA of Hancock County, 141 Bar Harbor Road, Trenton, Maine, 04605.