Al grew up in Roslindale in a large and loving Italian family, the 4th of 6 children. Al is survived by his brother John and preceded in death by Emma, Joseph, Eugene and Lillian. Al attended Boston English where he was an excellent student and stand out athlete, leading him to earn All-Scholastic honors in 1946, before he graduated in June 1947. With no money available for college, Al worked odd jobs and played in a neighborhood football league for the South Boston Chippewas. A chance meeting with the Northeastern University football coach landed Al a full scholarship, changing the course of his life forever.
In 1949, Al, the handsome curly-haired football star and future Northeastern Hall of Famer, fell in love with Joan Andre, the bubbly and beautiful cheerleader. They married in 1956 after they graduated from Northeastern University and Al served time in the US Army during the Korean War. Even though he was blind in one eye, he convinced the Army to let him serve, and he served state-side.
Al and Joan started their family in 1958, and they settled in Hingham in 1967 as a family of eight. Al was instrumental as a fundraiser for Hingham Youth Hockey and numerous other charities. Al was passionate about golf and made many great friends and memories playing golf at Thorny Lea Golf Club in Brockton. Weekend afternoons were often spent cooking with his children, a tradition that continued and grew to include his grandchildren and great grandchildren. Al loved to cook and was a great chef. He was always happy to share his secrets for the best meatballs or shrimp cocktail with his family. He enjoyed singing, especially while he cooked. Al was especially proud to see his family gathered around a holiday table, eating food he helped prepare. Al enjoyed watching the Patriots and Bruins, but his favorite sport to play and watch was golf.
More than anything, Al loved spending time with his large family: Dianne and Rich Schnee, Kristin and Joe Wise, George and Julie, Jay and Kitty, David, Kathy and John DeLuca. Known as Grampa to 13 grandchildren: Megan, Melissa, Derek, Kelly, Betsy, Alexandra, Michael, Daniel, Patrick, Kerry, William, Alyssa, and John and ‘GG’ to 4 great grandchildren: Quinn, Jameson, Porter, and Harlen. A beloved uncle to many nieces and nephews. Over the last fifteen years Al and his fiancé June created wonderful memories together, often centered around their shared love of great food and dancing.
Al will be dearly missed by all whose lives he touched, and his lasting legacy will live on through his family.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated Saturday, March 22 at 9AM at St. Susanna Church, 262 Needham St, Dedham. Family and friends are invited. Visiting hours are Saturday only 8–9 AM at St. Susanna Church. Interment in Forest Hills Cemetery, 95 Forest Hills Ave, Boston.
Many thanks to the VA for the incredible care and compassion they delivered to Al and to our whole family. Donations in Al’s memory can be made to the Fisher House, https://connect.fisherhouse.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=donate.event&eventID=539&_ga=2.103487234.303190356.1742387264-1228372053.1742387264
The following is a “MyLife, My Story” interview Al had with the VA on January 13, 2025
My father, Marco, came over from Italy when he was 15 years old. He was just a construction worker, but he fed us, took care of us, and never cheated anyone out of a dime. My mother, Mary, was from Somerville, Mass, and was a housewife. My whole life, it’s never been about how much I made, it’s how much I could give. That’s because of my father and mother. Still today, if I have 10 dollars to give, I give it away.
I was born in Boston but grew up in Roslindale, the fourth of six kids. I had two sisters, Lillian and Emma. All four brothers went into the service. John was in the Army and Eugine was in the Navy in World War II. Joseph was later in the Air Force. John’s 100 now. It’s just him and me left.
When I was 12 years old, I started working in a laundry. In the winters, I’d help my father shovel people’s walkways and driveways. Meanwhile, I loved school - and sports. I went to English High School. I ran track and was an All-Scholastic football player in 1946.
I graduated in ’47. My father couldn’t afford college, so I spent a year working for the A&P grocery store on the Cape. The Saturday before Labor Day in 1948, Joe Zabilski, the football coach at Northeastern, stopped in. He said, “Don’t I know you?” We talked a little and then he said, “What college are you going to?” I said I couldn’t afford college. He told me to come see him in his office. Two days later, I had a full-blown scholarship.
Northeastern was a five-year college, where you’d go to school and also work. I worked in their parking lot, and on the weekends, I cleaned the cafeteria and mopped the floors. I studied business administration, played football, and ran track. I was halfback and defensive back for the ’51 team that went undefeated. In 1984, I was inducted into Northeastern’s Hall of Fame.
After college, I worked for Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, an accounting firm. In October of ’53, I was drafted. The thing was, when I was 8 years old, I was shot in the right eye with an air rifle, so I’ve been blind in that eye ever since. When I went to the Army base to report, they said I didn’t have to go in because of my eye but I told them I wanted to serve just like my brothers had.
In basic training, I received commendations for soldier of the month, and because of my accounting background, I ended up at Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana, where I served as a finance instructor until I got out in ’55.
I went back to Deloitte. In 1957, I passed the exam to become a CPA. I left Deloitte in 1962, when a place I’d been auditing – Federal Distillers, Inc. – offered me a job.
Meanwhile, on October 6th of 1956, I married my college sweetheart, Joan Andre, who’d been a cheerleader at Northeastern. We moved to an apartment in Wollaston, and when she got pregnant, I bought a house in South Weymouth. We had six children in that house – in a seven-and-a-half-year span. Then I bought a house in Hingham in 1969.
Two years later, I woke up in the night and heard a crackling noise. When I went downstairs, I saw fire coming out of the furnace. I told the kids to sit at the front door, then went crawling down the hallway to get more clothes because it was so cold out. I called the neighbors, and when we opened the door to leave, the air that rushed in caused the house to just explode with flames. Very scary.
Other than the foundation and some walls, we lost everything – clothes, pictures... we didn’t even have a pencil. I was really upset at first, but when I saw my kids go back to school, the old house became nothing: I still had my family.
We ended up renting out the Boston mayor’s summer home for a few months, then moved into a 40 by 10-foot trailer on our old lot. For eight months, the eight of us crammed in there. The bathroom was so small that to shave, I had to keep my arms close to my body. But we rebuilt the house and moved back in.
I worked for Federal Distillers, which manufactured and distributed liquor, for a long time. I became the Vice President in 1964, Senior VP in 1970, and President of the company in 1976. In 1984, the employees and I used the money from the company’s pension plan to buy the business outright.
In the late ‘80s, business went downhill. I ended up selling it so that the employees would get back all their money, but I was left with pretty much nothing. I ended up doing consulting work after that until 2005, the same year Joan died.
Meanwhile, I built a house in South Natick and lived there from 1998-2005. For a while, I worked for a person who owned a marina. What I didn’t know was that his notary was forging my signature, and around 2004, I ended up involved in lawsuits that said I owed a lot of money. After that, I couldn’t rent anywhere, so my sister Emma let me move into a little cape house behind the Walpole Motel, which she owned. I stayed there until 2011 and have been in Dedham ever since.
I’ve always believed I have a guardian angel looking out for me. Several times I was saved from almost certain death. The first time was when I was engaged to Joan. I would drive back and forth from Roslindale to Quincy, where she lived, and I would always pass my church, Sacred Heart. One night, I saw a little old woman outside the church, all dressed in black. I did a U-turn to see if she was still there, but she wasn’t. When I got home, I parked, then started walking up the driveway like I normally do, when there was a bang. A car coming down the hill by our house had lost its brakes, hit the curb in front of our house, flew into the air and hit the front porch. Were it not for that 15-second U-turn at the church, I would have been standing there. I would have been dead.
Another time, I was driving my van at night to make a work delivery and almost went off the road into the river, but somehow managed to get up the bank unharmed. In 2007, in Walpole, I was looking out my window at a windstorm when a pole from a nearby radio tower fell and hit the house. Somehow, it fell vertically. Had it fallen horizontally, I would have been crushed. In 2016, I was going to visit my brother in the hospital, but my car wouldn’t start. The mechanic later found three of the tires had bubbles the size of tennis balls. Had I driven that day, I don’t know what would have happened.
The VA has saved my life twice, too. In 2022, I had pain I my side that the doctors at first thought was a pulled muscle. Two months later, an MRI revealed I was actually full of cancer. My PSA levels were so high that they gave me six months to live. But my oncology doctor, Dr. Jacobson, got me to a hospital that was using a new drug, and that got my PSAs down to almost normal. It’s starting to come up again, so I’m being treated for prostate cancer again, but I’m still alive. The following year, they treated a lung infection that could have killed me too. So, yeah, I love the VA. I love everything they do.
You can see why I’m a happy guy. Six children, all married, 13 grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. All safe. All loving me and I love all of them. You can tell that guardian angels have watched over me like crazy. I honestly believe that.
I’m very thankful.
That’s the way I live my life.
Interview January 13, 2025
VA HealthCare