Esther Rose (Santoro) D’Angeli, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away peacefully on November 15, 2024, at the age of 96, at the Courtyard Nursing Center in Medford, Massachusetts.
A wake will be held on Wednesday, November 20th at the BreslinFuneral Home, 610 Pleasant Street, Malden from 10AM to 12 PM followed by interment in Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett.
Esther was born on June 6, 1928 in Somerville, MA. She lost her father, Frank Santoro, at the tender age of eleven. When her mother, Mary, remarried Gaspro DiPalma, Esther and her brother, Joe, gained two stepbrothers, Jerry and Ronnie. Esther had fond childhood memories of her aunts and uncles. She especially enjoyed spending time with her cousins at her grandparent’s farm, watching the biplanes take off and land at, what is now, NorthGate Shopping Center. She enjoyed visiting her father at his barber shop and feeding the horses that drew her grandfather’s vegetable cart in the 1930’s. She worked at Gorin’s Department Store as a teen and then fell in love with her future husband, Steve D’Angeli, who had just returned from a five year stint serving overseas in World War II.
Motherhood was the most important, and most cherished, responsibility of her life. She was fiercely devoted to her children, and adored her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, who will all miss her love (and her cooking!).
Esther was preceded in death by her husband, Steve D’Angeli; her mother, Mary (Ciccariella) DiPalma; her father, Frank Santoro; her stepfather, Gaspro DiPalma; her brother, Joseph Santoro; along with numerous aunts, uncles, and in-laws.
Esther is survived by her children, Lyn, and her husband, Russell Lutkevich of Medford; Steven and his wife, Kathy, of Wilmington; Sylvia, and her husband, Tom Maribito, of Peabody; Frank, and his wife, Jennifer, of Wakefield; and Lisa, and her husband, Sean O’Neil, of Medford.
She is also survived by eight grandchildren: Amy, Beth, Michael, Gregg, Michele, Rachel, Kayla, and Jack. Esther is also survived by five great grandchildren: Penny, Grant, Christian, Cassidy, and Evan.
The D’Angeli family would like to thank the many doctors, nurses, and aids, that assisted Esther during the last few years of her long life.