Sylvia was born on September 18, 1936, the eldest child of Katherine (nee Buckley) and Eugene Zalla.
Educated at St Augustine School and Punchard High School, she excelled in art and later studied at Mass art in Boston.
In high school she joined a group of like-minded girls in the Equestrian Club at Andover Riding Academy on Salem St in Andover. Horses were a life-long love which she passed on to her younger sister when that sister was 18 months old.
Sylvia was also an avid skier, taking her nephews along on many trips, and kitting them out in the appropriate gear.
In middle age she was an avid fan and particpant in sports car racing and rally driving.
Sylvia's great avocation was genealogy. She traveled to the LDS facility in Lynnfield many times to search relatives on both sides of the family. While the Irish cousins were well known, it was believed that her immediate family was the end of the Zalla line. In her travels in Italy, however, she met many cousins, discovering the family's beginnings in Val di Sole in the Dolomites. A further branch was discovered in Brazil, the result of two cousins emigrating: one to North America and one to South America.
Sylvia started her work life at Bell Labs in No. Andover, moving through several jobs throughout the years at AT&T and later at Lucent. She eventually took early retirement and accepted a position with Fleet Bank in the Private Clients Group.
Sylvia loved travel, visiting the relations in both Ireland and Italy, and further travel in Mallorca, Sweden, Austria, and Germany.
Sylvia is predeceased by both her parents and by her younger brother, Eugene Zalla, Jr.
She leaves behind her sister-in-law, Maureen Berryman Zalla of Solon, ME, her younger sister, Kathleen Zalla, of Andover and her nephew, Stephen Zalla and his wife, Kim, of No. Woodstock, NH. She also leaves her "honorary" brother and sister, Stephen and Mary Sousa of Kingston, NH.
Donations, in lieu of flowers, can be made to MSPCA/ Nevins Farm in Methuen, MA. For additional information, please visit, www.burkemagliozzi.com