Concetta Cirvinale Obituary

Concetta Tina (Riccio) Cirvinale passed away at her home in Melrose on Monday, February 1, 2010. She was 82 years of age. Tina was born in Italy on September 18, 1927 to the late Luigi and Paula Riccio. She was raised in Italy and came to the U.S. in 1951 and settled in Roslindale. Mrs. Cirvinale and her late husband, Ralph, owned and operated the LaBella Pastry Shop in the North End for 50 years. She was a talented seamstress and also worked for Fiandaca Designs on Newbury Street in Boston for 10 years. After the death of her husband, Ralph, she moved to Melrose and has been a resident for the past 25 years. Tina worked part time at Rite Aid in Melrose, worked as a volunteer at Melrose-Wakefield Hospital for many years, and was known for making the fried dough at the Horace Mann School pumpkin festival for many years. Mrs. Cirvinale cherished her four granddaughters and loved making them dresses, attending all their sporting events and giving them advice throughout the years. Tina enjoyed traveling and was an avid gardener. She was the beloved wife of 31 years to the late Ralph Cirvinale. Loving mother of Paula Tocco and her husband, Michael, of Melrose and the late Ralph A. Cirvinale. Devoted grandmother of Stefanie, Nicole, Ana and Micheline Tocco. Sister of the late Francesco Riccio and his wife, Antoinetta, of Medford, as well as several other siblings in Italy and France. Beloved friend of Cooper and Bailey. Funeral was from the Gately Funeral Home, 79 W. Foster St., Melrose on Wednesday, Feb. 3 at 8 a.m. A funeral Mass in Tinas honor was celebrated at St. Marys Church, Herbert Street, Melrose at 9 a.m. Relatives and friends were respectfully invited to attend. Visiting hours were Tuesday from 4-8 p.m. Interment in St. Michaels Cemetery, Roslindale. Memorial contributions may be made to the American Red Cross Haitian Relief Fund, P.O. Box 37295, Washington, D.C. 20013. To sign guestbook please visit www.gatelyfh.com.

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Published by The Wakefield Observer from Feb. 2 to Feb. 9, 2010.

Memories and Condolences
for Concetta Cirvinale

4 Entries

Stefanie Tocco

February 12, 2010

Nonna's Eulogy

Written and read by Stefanie, Nicole, Ana and Micheline Tocco

Nicole: Thank you all for being here this morning. The 4 of us are so grateful that Nonna had all of you as part of her life, and especially that she had a daughter as devoted, patient and tireless as our mother. Growing up, we spent a lot of time with Nonna. As we moved away and out of Melrose that translated into an extraordinary amount of time spent on the phone with her. We probably talked to her, on average, about once a day each at least. At times, my sisters and I found it unnecessary for us to talk to each other anymore because we would each talk to Nonna and she would update us on the other sisters’ activities. So, without ever talking to Stef, I would often know what she had for breakfast that morning, how her day was going and her plans for that evening. During these conversations, we got lots of advice from Nonna, usually in the form of catchy phrases. We thought we would take a few minutes to share some of that advice with you this morning.
Ana: In any given situation, Nonna could say, “Vai piano, vai lontano.” It translates to “if you go slow, you will go far.” But Nonna liked to add in, “Because if you go fast, you will fall, and break your leg, and then what will you do?!”

And the idea of going slow and doing things right was always there, whether it was sewing, cooking, or knitting- she always encouraged us to take our time to do the best job possible.

Micheline: Nonna had an opinion about most things in our lives, and she always made it heard. But one she especially like to share her thoughts on was Love. It usually boiled down to something like, “Love is like a cookin’. You got to watch what your doin’. Cause if you don’t, you will get burned.”

And as we got older and as she got older, Nonna became very honest in what she shared. This isn’t the time for some of those stories, but one more phrase I’d like to share with you is one that makes us laugh, but also rings true when you actually think about it. She’d always say, “It don’t matter if you got ten cent or a million buck; if you don’t got your health, you got nothing.”

Stefanie: All her life, Nonna was an extremely hard worker and wanted to make sure we too understood what hard work was. For me, a typical Monday morning would include my daily check in with Nonna- it’s 8 am- on my way to work, trying to rev up for the week. So I’m chatting with Nonna unloading all my ‘to dos’ for the day. Nona, I have this and that, then go here and there…. And not even acknowledging my self-pity, she would say: “Stefanie, Dats beautiful. You got to keep working hard. Sitting down will kill you. I’m not joking.”

-And although sometimes I wanted to hang up on her, all I could respond was: “Nonna, you’re right.”

And so, it is clear that Nonna had a lot to say. She was honest, feisty, and definitely one of a kind. We know most of you can attest to these Nonna-isms, and some of you were lucky enough to hear it straight from her. But we wanted to share them with you today because despite it being cute or funny, her simple life analogies reflected her life experiences, what she valued and what she believed in- and its what we’ll take with us and remember most about Nonna.

Christine Stier

February 8, 2010

So many of my childhood memories revolve around Paula and Ralphie, and their mother, Mrs. Cirvinale--hanging around the Henry Abrams schoolyard, Italian rum cakes for birthday parties, all the invitations from Tina to eat her delicious Italian cooking, which I was too dumb to accept, the cannolis from their pastry shop in the North End, La Bella, trips with them to Revere Beach, and much more. I will miss you, Tina.

meg,nancy and steven mcclorey

February 6, 2010

We love you Tina. We have so many fond memories and all end with a smile. We will miss you. Our love to your family at this sad time.

Jean-Francois De gruttola

February 4, 2010

Ciao Zia Tina

I will always miss you!! And i promize you that I'll do everything possible to protect help and love my family in Boston!! They are so great...I love them.
I am glad that i could see you one more time.
Baccio
Your Nephew Jean-Francois/ Gian Franco who loved english/ america thanks to you

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