It is with breaking hearts and ones overflowing with love and admiration that the family of Rosemarie (Rosaria) Tella of Medford, MA, announce her passing on July 29, 2021 at 86 years of age. She will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 59 years, Alfred Tella, Jr., and sons Robert of Medford, MA and James of Los Angeles, CA. James Posey of Medford and her much adored and loved brother and sister-in-law, Bob and Mary Buccafusca of Marshfield, MA, join them in celebrating Rosemarie’s memory and her amazing love for her family.
Rosemarie was born Rosaria in Boston to Angelo Bucca and Lillian Dobrosky on February 25, 1935. She met Alfred Tella on a cold Christmas holiday in 1960 while he was delivering presents for friends and family with his mother’s sister, Lil. Al was immediately smitten by the “pretty curly haired blue-eyed girl seated on the right side of the kitchen table.” Thinking she was already taken, he left. A few days later, Lil called and said she had a name and phone number. One week later he called and after eight months, although she forever denied it, Rosemarie looked at him with one question. “When are you going to ask me to marry you?” Alfred responded, “Pick a day.” And one week later, he took her to the jewelers in downtown Boston where they bought their rings. 59 years later, the marriage they said, “would never last,” has outlasted the naysayers. It was indeed a union until death did, they part.
From San Francisco and Los Angeles, Paris, London, Rome, Venice, Florence, Belgium and more, Rosemarie traveled the world and the country with her sons. And, whether she was called Rose, Rosemarie, Rosemary, or to very privileged few, “Ma,” Rosemarie has left a massive hole in hearts that will never truly heal.
A woman of great strength who always underestimated herself, Rosemarie faced the world with love and compassion. She was a savior in a world full of bullies, a champion in a world full of doubters and the loudest applause in a room full of strangers. She was the one constant at a kitchen table in a house she made into a home and she knew that to be a great mother meant letting her children live their lives no matter who they were or whom they loved.
The world may continue to turn, but without Rosemarie Bucca Tella, it has started to rotate just a little bit slower.
Visitation will be held on Tuesday, August 3, 2021 from 11 am to 1 pm at the Breslin Funeral Home, 610 Pleasant St, Malden immediately followed by a service and interment at Oak Grove Cemetery in Medford.
Friends and family may choose to send flowers or donate to either of Rosemarie’s favorite charities: the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer or St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital.