Joanne Cugini O’Shea, 85, passed away peacefully on September 16, 2019 at Mercy Medical Center in Springfield, Massachusetts surrounded by family. She was born on August 31, 1934 in Brighton, Massachusetts to Maria Loreta (née Cellucci) and Gaetano Cugini. She was one of six children.
She graduated from Brighton High School in 1952 and attended nursing school at Newton Wellesley Hospital. She then went on to train as a nurse anesthetist at Carney Hospital in Dorchester. After completing school, she set her sights on the United States Air Force and was commissioned a captain. She met and married Daniel Kevin O’Shea, having two children, Marla Jane O’Shea and Daniel James O’Shea. Joanne and Dan divorced in 1977.
Joanne worked as a nurse anesthetist at the Farren Memorial Hospital and then the Franklin Medical Center, supporting and nurturing her two children and putting them through college. She even joined the Army Reserves to help her kids pay for school.
Joanne retired in 1996 in time to help take care of her first grandchild, Griffin Cornelius Bulman, and continuing through Calista Genevieve Bulman, Talia Maeve O’Shea, Fiona Roisin Bulman, and Charlotte Sophie O’Shea. A long time Whately resident, she was very involved in her local community. She loved to garden, read, eat chocolate, travel, and spend time with her family and friends. Besides her children and grandchildren, she leaves her sister, Carmine Omobono, and sister-in-law, Rita Cugini, and many nieces and nephews.
An open house in her memory will be held at the Whately Town Hall on September 27, 2019 from 4 – 7PM. A funeral mass will be held at Our Lady of The Hills Parish, 173 Main Street, Haydenville, Massachusetts on September 28, 2019 at 11 AM. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the S. White Dickinson Memorial Library in Whately.