BEVERLY: Rockey Papa, 97, devoted husband of Beatrice I. (St. Pierre) Papa, died Sunday, November 13, 2011 in the Blueberry Hill Healthcare Center in Beverly following a brief illness.
Born in Schenectady, New York on August 23, 1914, he was the son of the late John and Vincenza (DiSimone) Papa who had immigrated from Italy.
During World War II, Rockey worked as a welder at the Charlestown Navy Yard. Prior to the merger of the Plumbers & Pipefitters National Union, for which he is a lifetime member, he was a member of the Salem Plumbers and Pipefitters Local #138. He was also a member of the Italian Community Center in Beverly.
In addition to his wife of sixty-nine years, he is survived by two daughters and sons-in-law, Carol and Peter Hamor of Beverly and Joanne and Robert Abrams of Essex; two granddaughters, Dierdre Coluntino and her husband, Conti of Beverly Farms and Noel Pallazola and her husband, Thomas of Manchester-by-the-Sea; four great-grandchildren, Ralph and Peter Coluntino and Cosmo and Cagney Pallazola; two sisters, Yolanda Lunn and Marguerite Bettencourt both of Beverly; a brother, Dominic Papa of Beverly and many nieces and nephews, including, Joan Matton, John Bateman and his godson, Peter “Butch” Baglioni. He also leaves many cousins in Beverly, Lynn and Ontario, Canada. He was also predeceased by two sisters, Margaret Bateman Frasca and Marie Matton and three brothers, John, Anthony and Raymond Papa.
A memorial Mass will be held on Saturday, November 19th in St. Margaret’s Church, 672 Hale St., Beverly Farms at 10 a.m. Relatives and friends are cordailly invited to attend. Expressions of sympathy may be made in his memory to the Hospice of the North Shore, 75 Sylvan St., Suite B-102, Danvers, MA 01923.