Josephine G. (Trocchio) Pero, 90, of Readville, passed away peacefully surrounded by family on August 22, 2021.
She was predeceased by her husband Robert D. Pero, her daughter Catherine Pero, her parents Frances and Attilio Trocchio, and her sister Leonora Ihnatko. She leaves her children; Robert T. Pero, MD, Col. U.S. Army Ret. and his wife Linda, Mary Frances Milburn, Esq. and her husband Darrell, Joanne D. Haynes and her husband James, and Michael A. Pero and his wife Darlene; her grandchildren Jessica Lamacraft, Andrew Zeigler, Darcy A. Milburn, Lauren R. Milburn, and Daniel J. Haynes; her sister Mary C. Will and many cousins, nieces, and nephews.
Many thanks to her caregivers at the Lydia Taft House and Home Instead, as well as Jen Thomas.
Josie was born in the Readville neighborhood of Boston and lived there all her life. She attended the Damon School, Saint Anne’s School, St. Gregory’s and graduated from Hyde Park High School in 1948. She attended Boston Teacher’s College and was the first in her family to earn a college degree when she graduated in 1952. She taught Kindergarten at the Hemmingway and first grade at the Channing school in Hyde Park and then in the Braintree School District. She was a Boy Scout Den Mother, Girl Scout Leader, and a Hyde Park Hockey mom while raising her children. She continued her education at Boston State (now UMass) with a Masters of Education in Elementary Education in 1979, with a concentration in Special Needs. She then returned to teaching in the Boston Public Schools until she dedicated herself to 30 years of teaching 4,5 & 6 grades English language Arts at St. Anne’s School in Readville.
Next to her family, her greatest joy was teaching children. Her fun, positive and entertaining nature was well suited for teaching and she often said that it never was work to her. She sincerely cared for each student and their families.
She loved to going out with friends and traveling to visit her son Bob, wherever he was stationed and to visit her daughter, Mary, twice in Alaska. She traveled to Denmark, Anguilla, Italy and Bermuda as well as taking her grandchildren to France and Washington, DC. She vacationed on the Cape every summer with her daughter Joanne and her family. She attended all of her children’s and grandchildren’s graduations and celebrations. She loved to crochet and made blankets for the Veterans at the VA.
She was a life long communicant of St. Anne’s Parish, now in the Blue Hill Collaborative; she was a Eucharistic Minister; taught Religious Education; was a member of St. Anthony’s Society and St. Anne’s Lady’s Sodality; a contributor to St. Anne’s Bazaar since its start in 1961; Past president and member of Our Lady’s Flower Club; and a member of many groups including Readville Seniors, Mill Par, St Pius Seniors, Norwood Seniors and her beloved Book Club.
Visiting hours at the George F. Doherty & Sons Wilson-Cannon Funeral Home, 456 High St., DEDHAM on Wednesday, Aug. 25 from 4-8pm. Funeral from the funeral home on Thursday, Aug. 26 at 10am followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Anne’s Church, Readville at 11am. Relatives and friends kindly invited. Burial will be private in Fairview Cemetery, Hyde Park.
In lieu of flowers expressions of sympathy may be made in Josie’s memory to St Anne’s Church, 90 West Milton St., Readville, MA 02136.