Ernest B. Remondini

Ernest Blaise Remondini, a lifelong Weymouth resident, a retired public school educator and administrator, and avid stamp collector with a history of public service, died December 27, 2014, at Colonial Nursing Home. He was 84. Born at home to his parents, Joseph and Margaret (Rizzo) Remondini, February 3, 1930, in East Weymouth, Mr. Remondini attended Weymouth High School, where he met his future wife, Jeanne Marie Fopiano. He graduated in 1948 and the couple married in 1949. Mr. Remondini enrolled in Bridgewater State Teachers College, where he started on the college soccer team and later earned a masters degree in Public Administration. Mr. Remondini served in the U.S. Naval Reserve and the U.S. Army during the Korean War. He began his long career in education in the Hanover Public Schools and in several Weymouth elementary schools before moving to Ralph Talbott Elementary School in South Weymouth. He taught there many years before shifting to Jefferson School. Later, Mr. Remondini was named director of the Instructional Materials Center at Weymouth North High. Later, until his retirement in 1991, he taught at Fulton Elementary School. He worked part-time at several travel agencies, including Glenn Warren Travel. In addition to his teaching career, Mr. Remondini was active in a host of side businesses. He and a classmate from Bridgewater operated Camp Quinebarge Summer Camp in New Hampshire and he had a longtime relationship with the former Dennison Press on Station Street. He also grew his stamp collecting hobby into a somewhat profitable sideline, which led to a long term association with the Granite City Stamp Club of Quincy. Mr. Remondini was deeply involved in public service and politics. He was a member of the Weymouth Town Meeting and served many years as Warden in Precinct 2 in East Weymouth. He was also one of the longest serving members of any Housing Authority in Massachusetts, serving since 1966 on the Weymouth Housing Authority. In 2009, the New England Council of Housing Authorities selected him as Commissioner of the Year. He ran for public office himself, including Weymouth Assessor, and in 1990 as the Republican candidate for state representative. Mr. Remondini was an active member of local, state and national teachers associations. Mr. Remondini made many other public contributions. As a member of the Jaycees, he was instrumental in Operation Deathtrap - a campaign that led to a change in state law that required the doors to refrigerators be removed before disposal. This change was prompted by the death of a child who had crawled inside a refrigerator at a dump site. Mr. Remondini supported Troop 19 and worked on many projects for Immaculate Conception Parish. He also served as a member of the Abigail Adams Historical Society, the Weymouth Historical Society, the Veterans Memorial Committee, the Fair Housing Committee, the Council on Aging, as a officer with the Weymouth Sons of Italy Lodge, as the National President of the Pairpoint Cup Plate Association. Perhaps his most lasting contribution was his leadership to build what was originally called the Memorial School on Main Street in South Weymouth, which he undertook with the support of the Jaycees. Sparked by the need for more local educational support for developmentally disabled children on the South Shore, he led a tireless fundraising drive to build the school, beginning in 1964. It opened in 1971. In recognition of his contributions, it was renamed the Ernest B. Remondini Early Childhood Center in 2001. In an interview with a newspaper reporter in 1990, he said, I work quietly in the background and let others take the glory. My late father impressed me as a youngster that service to your fellow man is the best work of life. I have adopted the philosophy that public service is the rent I pay for the space I occupy on earth. To his neighbors on Cedar Street, Mr. Remondini was an invaluable source of assistance and advice, always ready to lend a tool or a jar of nails. In addition, to his stamp collecting hobby and cup plate collection, Mr. Remondini enjoyed vegetable gardening, and travel with his wife. His family includes his wife, Jeanne Marie (Fopiano) Remondini; his daughter, Teri Anne (Remondini) Scoggins; and his grandson, Todd Scroggins, both of Mobile, Ala.; and his son, David Joseph Remondini and his wife Lou Ann Baker of Indianapolis, Ind.; his sister, Cynthia Ehlers of Belle Chasse, La.; and also survived by 11 nieces and nephews and several cousins. Contributions may be made to the First Early Intervention Program of the ARC of the South Shore, 574 Main Street, Weymouth, MA 02190. Visiting hours were Thursday, Jan. 1, 3-7 p.m. in the McDonald Keohane Funeral Home, at 3 Charles Street (corner of Charles and Middle Street), East Weymouth. Relatives and friends gathered in the funeral home at 9 a.m. Friday prior to the funeral Mass in Immaculate Conception Church, Weymouth, at 10 a.m. Burial in St. Francis Xavier Cemetery, Weymouth. See www.Keohane.com for directions and online condolences or call 781-335-0045.