Elinor Tripato Massoglia

CHAPEL HILL - Dr. Elinor Tripato Massoglia, whose half-century career in education spanned the playgrounds of Mount Vernon, N.Y., to the halls of North Carolina Central University, died Friday, Nov. 3, 2006, at her home in Carolina Meadows. She was 88. Born to Luigi and Anna Tripato on Dec. 17, 1917, Dr. Massoglia came of age in Depression-era Mount Vernon when opportunities for women were limited. Undaunted, she defied convention and became an educator, teaching grade levels from kindergarten to college and ending her working career with emerita designation from N.C. Central. A 1935 graduate of Mount Vernon High School, she was inducted into the school's Hall of Fame at her 50th reunion in 1985. After high school, she received her kindergarten and primary certification from Mills Training School (now Mills College of Education) in 1937; a Bachelor's in early childhood and elementary education from New York University in 1940 and a Master's in education in 1942; and a doctorate in adult and community college education from N.C. State University in 1972. Before retiring, she had taught or lectured at Jacksonville State College in Alabama, Saint Mary College in Kansas, Hampton Institute (now Hampton University) in Virginia, the University of North Carolina, Guilford College and N.C. Central, where she was associate professor of human growth and development and family. Dr. Massoglia had a lifelong love affair with the American flag, inspired in part by her parents who emigrated from Europe in the early 1900s. She initiated an effort that led to a presidential proclamation of 1986 as Year of the Flag. Invited to Washington for congratulations and a handshake from President Reagan, she proudly displayed an Oval Office photo of the event on a bookcase, much to the chagrin of her Democratic children. She recalled having shown a young Ralph Branca, eight years her junior, how to throw a baseball while a teenage playground instructor in their Mount Vernon hometown. In 1951 while pitching for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Branca threw the fastball that Bobby Thomson of the New York Giants blasted "the shot heard round the world." Her publications included The Story of Pickles (1953), Fun-time Paper Folding (1959), Early Childhood Education in the Home (1977) and Origami Bulletin Boards: Paperfolding in the Classroom for Teachers and Students (2005), as well as numerous magazine and newspaper articles, book chapters and other writings. A champion for career women before it was the fashion, Dr. Massoglia was also a devoted wife. While her husband was transferred every few years as an Army officer, she continued her own career, working as an educator at or near military installations in Alabama, Kansas, Maryland, Germany and Japan. Of all her homes as a military wife, Japan left the deepest impression. She earned both a diploma and a degree in Ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement, from the Koryu and Sogetsu schools in Tokyo. For many years after leaving Japan, Dr. Massoglia displayed her ceremonial doll collection to commemorate Hinamatsuri, the annual Festival of Dolls. In 1975, she was invited back to Japan as a guest of the Japan-United States Economic Council. After her husband retired from the military in 1967 and settled in Chapel Hill, she became active in St. Thomas More Catholic Church, the Little German Band and Dancers of Cary and, in more recent years, in her role as the family matriarch. She also kept active in reunions of the 238th Combat Engineer Battalion, her husband's World War II outfit, which landed on D-Day. She is survived by her six children, Martin F. Massoglia II of North Hills, Calif.; Charles L. Massoglia of Mason, Mich.; Jon Massoglia Silvermoon of Eugene, Ore.; Mary Ann Massoglia of Greensboro; Michael P. Massoglia of Winston-Salem; and Judy Massoglia Holt of Johnson City, Tenn.; 14 grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren. The family will receive visitors from 6 to 8 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 7, at Walker's Funeral Home in Chapel Hill. The funeral Mass will be at 1 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 8, at St. Thomas More Church, 940 Carmichael St., Chapel Hill. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to St. Thomas More Church. There will be a graveside service at 3 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, at Arlington National Cemetery, where Dr. Massoglia will rejoin her lifetime polka partner of more than 50 years, the late Col. Martin F. Massoglia, U.S. Army, retired, who died in 2001.