NATICK: Rita (Gagne) Bizzozero, age 91, passed away peacefully on March 31, 2017, after suffering an incapacitating stroke several days earlier.
A native of Websterville, Vermont, she was the youngest of nine children. At age 14, she met the love of her life, Richard C. “Biz” Bizzozero, and they were married on May 26, 1945 after he returned from service in World War II as an Army-Air Force navigator, serving in the European theater.
Rita worked as a secretary while her husband earned an engineering degree from Syracuse University on the GI Bill. As a young couple, they lived in Levittown, NY for a few years before returning to Burlington, Vermont when Biz got a job as an aeronautical engineer at General Electric. They built a house in a new subdivision near Lake Champlain in north Burlington, where they raised two wonderful children, Pamela and Richard.
Rita was well-known for being a meticulous housekeeper, an excellent baker, and above all a devoted wife and mother, and their home always welcomed her children’s friends. She loved wildlife and took great pleasure in identifying the birds landing on the backyard bird-feeders and made peanut butter sandwiches daily to feed the squirrels.
A tireless worker, she took great pleasure in helping her husband and son with chores at the family tree farm in Brookfield, Vermont, which she and Biz purchased in the late 1950s. She packed picnic lunches for day-trips to “the farm,” and each year loved selecting a Christmas tree grown on the property.
For 10 years in the 1970s and 1980s, she worked for the University of Vermont in Central Service, providing administrative support to faculty. She retired in the mid-1980s to spend time with her husband and grandchildren.
Eight years after her beloved Biz passed away in December 2001, she left their Burlington home of 52 years and moved to a new place in Natick, Massachusetts, connected to the home of her daughter, Pam, and son-in-law, Robert Donnelly. In her new home, she enjoyed helping take care of the resident dogs and goats, and continued to feed the birds and the squirrels.
Rita was a devoted grandmother to Emily, Trevor and Alexis, and great-granddaughter Sarah Louise.
In recent years, Rita developed a new community of friends at the Natick Community Center, where she played chair volleyball three-times a week, participated in occasional outings, and volunteered in various capacities.
She leaves her daughter, Pamela Donnelly and son-in-law Robert, of Natick; her son, Richard Bizzozero and daughter-in-law Cynthia Barakatt of Andover; granddaughter Emily and husband Steve Henley, of Natick, grandson Trevor Donnelly, of Boston, granddaughter Alexis Donnelly and great-granddaughter Sarah Louise Donnelly, of London, England; and several nieces and nephews.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in Saint Patrick’s Church, 44 East Central Street on Wednesday, April 5th at 9:30A.M. Visiting hours will be Tuesday, 4:00 – 7:00P.M. in the John Everett & Sons Funeral Home, 4 Park Street at Natick Common.
A memorial reception will be held on Wednesday, April 5 from 5:00 - 7:00P.M. in the North Terrace of G’s Restaurant at the Sheraton Hotel, 870 Williston Road, South Burlington, Vermont. Burial will be private.
Donations may be made in Rita’s memory to The Bizzozero Memorial Fund of the Vermont Tree Farm Program, c/o Vermont Woodlands Association, P.O. Box 6004, Rutland, VT 05702, or the Natick Council on Aging, c/o Natick Community-Senior Center, 117 East Central Street, Natick, MA 01760.