Horace “Babe” Anastasi, age 98, a life-long resident of Beverly, Massachusetts, died on December 29, 2012, of natural causes at Wingate of Sudbury.
Mr. Anastasi was born in Beverly, Massachusetts in 1914, and was the son of the late Francisco and Antonia Fornato Anastasi, who were born and lived in Messina, Italy, until they immigrated to the United States in 1910.
Mr. Anastasi was educated in the Beverly Public Schools. He graduated from Beverly High School in the Class of 1932.
Mr. Anastasi married Dorothy F. Haines, also of Beverly, in 1937. They were married until her death in 2000 and had two children, Ronald and Brian. In 2001, while living at Emeritus Senior Living, he met Josephine Pedi, formerly of Saugus and also a resident there. They were married much to the delight of friends and family in 2002.
Mr. Anastasi was Secretary/Treasurer of the local Lynn chapter of the United Furniture Workers of America for many years while employed at the Lisson and Mellon Company in Lynn.
During World War II, Mr. Anastasi was one of an elite group of machinists at General Electric’s Lynn facility specially trained to machine the turbine blades for the world’s first jet engines under a secret contract with the U.S. Air Force.
In 1980, Mr. Wilbur Tracy selected Mr. Anastasi as one of the three skilled machinists to found the Gloucester Engineering Company in Gloucester. Mr. Anastasi served as President of the Gloucester Engineering Company Employees Union from 1970 to 1980.
He became a licensed Real Estate Broker in 1962 and owned and operated Anastasi Real Estate of Beverly until his retirement in 1993.
Mr. Anastasi is survived by his son, Brian, of Amherst, Massachusetts, his daughter-in-law Meg, two grandchildren, Atreyu and Morgan, of Amherst, Massachusetts, his daughter-in-law Kim Anastasia of North Fort Myers, FL, and many nieces and nephews in the North Shore area. Horace was the third of four brothers and is predeceased by his other siblings.
His Funeral Services will be held at 11AM on Thursday, January 17, 2013 at C.R. Lyons & Sons, Funeral Directors, 28 Elm Street, Danvers, MA 01923. Burial will follow in North Beverly Cemetery, Beverly. Relatives and friends are invited.