Irene D. Cacciutti

Co-founder of the Fireside Restaurant & Secane Court Apartments

Irene D. Cacciutti (nee Malone), 90, of Springfield, died peacefully Thursday, March 21, 2013, at The Wallingford Nursing Center.
Irene was born at home on North 25th Street in Philadelphia to the late Hannah (nee Richards) and John Malone. She attended John W. Hallahan Catholic High School. At 16, she left school to take a job at the Burpee Seed Company to help support her family. She loved to sing, and enjoyed singing for the troops being shipped overseas.
Irene met the love of her life, the late John T. Cacciutti, at Chez Vous skating club, and was happily married for 40 years. They raised three children on Collins Drive in Springfield. She attended daily Mass at St. Kevin's for much of her life.
Irene is perhaps best known around Delaware County for her random acts of kindness, such as buying mittens to hand out to children at bus stops on cold winter mornings and tipping counter workers at McDonalds, where she went for breakfast.
The family had a summer home on the corner of Delancey and Corinthian streets in Ocean City, N.J., and everyone on the street knew Mrs. Cacciutti. Children peddled tricycles to her house to get home-baked chocolate chip cookies or to see what other treats she might be giving away that day. She especially loved to sit on the porch and talk to families on their way to the beach.
She always put a smile on everyone's face and had a special gift for finding the right words to comfort people who were sad or to congratulate them on a job well done. Irene generously took in numerous relatives to live with her during her lifetime, including her grandparents and several uncles who had lost their homes in the Great Depression. She loved to cook holiday dinners, often feeding over 40 people seven-course meals at long tables in her basement. In her later years, she loved taking bus trips to the casinos in Atlantic City.
Irene and John co-founded the Fireside Hearth in Springfield and built the Secane Court Apartments in Secane. She was the niece of the late Police Chief Shoey Malone, who arrested Al Capone.
Survivors: Her three children, Debra A. (Chuck) Harrington of West Chester, Sharon L. (Michael) Spillman of Wallingford and John G. (Terry) Cacciutti of Media; six grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren.
Visitation/Service: Relatives and friends are invited to her visitation at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday followed by her Funeral Mass at 11 a.m. in St. Kevin Church, 200 W. Sproul Road, Springfield. Burial: SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Marple.
Contributions: Family Support Line, 100 W. Sixth St., Suite 2, Media, PA 19063. Arrangements: O'Leary Funeral Home.