GLOUCESTER: Barbara Jean (Barnes) Agostini, 79, died peacefully at her home surrounded by her family on Saturday, September 8, 2012. She was the wife of the late Otello “Augie” Agostini who died in 1980.
Born in Gloucester on February 26, 1933, she was the daughter of the late Lemuel and Louise (McGrath) Barnes. She attended Gloucester public schools and has resided in Gloucester her entire life.
Barbara was a longtime employee at Bass Rocks Motor Inn. She had also once worked as a fish cutter on the Gloucester waterfront. She was a member of the Cape Ann Lodge No. 1471, Loyal Order of Moose.
Barbara loved to test her luck with scratch tickets and enjoyed her trips to Foxwoods, Las Vegas and Atlantic City. She also took great pride in preparing cookouts at her home during St. Peter’s Fiesta and the Fourth of July. She loved doting on her grandchildren, with special love and affection for Melissa.
She is now surrounded by her best friends doing what she loves best… playing cards and dancing with her husband.
She is survived by her son, Thomas Agostini and his wife Patti of Salem; four daughters, Robin Gentile and her husband John of Gloucester, Wendy Lewis and her husband Chuck of Danvers, Carolyn Frost and her husband Artie of Gloucester and Janice Keating of Guerneville, CA; fourteen grandchildren, Sean, Brian, Tracy, Shannon, Dawn, Jason, Kyle, Raquel, Shara, Melissa, Ally, Olivia, Jackson and Mia; eleven great-grandchildren; two sisters, Carol Begg-Martell of Bishopville, SC and Marjorie Carlson of Englewood, FL; a brother, Donald Barnes of Gloucester; three sisters-in-law, Elsie Olivette and her husband James of Walpole, Joan Agostini of Kissimmee, FL and Dorothy Barnes of Swans Island, ME and many nieces and nephews, including a very special niece, Pam Begg-DiGiovanni of Bishopville, SC. She was also predeceased by her two sons, Robert “Brother” Agostini and Ronald “Aggie” Agostini, seven brothers, Harold, George, Edward and Robert Hardy and Tom, Daniel and Dick Barnes, four sisters, Marie Frontiero, Patricia Reed, Roberta Barnes and Sherryl Barnes and a special nephew, Alexander “Mickey” Begg who recently passed away.
Her funeral service will be held on Wednesday in the Pike-Grondin Funeral Home, 61 Middle Street, Gloucester at 9:30 a.m. Visiting hours will be held on Tuesday from 4 – 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in her memory to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105 or to the Hospice of the North Shore, 75 Sylvan St., Suite B-102, Danvers, MA 01923.