MOLLIE MORRISSEY- DiGIOVANNI
...Tewksbury resident since 1950
TEWKSBURY, MA - Malvena “Mollie” (Jasilewicz) (Morrissey) DiGiovanni, whose role as
Matriarch of extended Polish and Italian families ended on November 5, 2007, a month shy of her
87th birthday, when she passed away in her sleep at the Sawtelle House in Reading.
On December 5,1920, in Boston, Mollie became the firstborn child of Boleslaw “Benny”
and Josephine (Lubin) Jasilewicz. She was her Mother’s Helper raising the family in the Polish
tradition while she attended Boston High and Latin. As a teenager, she modeled ballroom gowns
and fur coats for prominent Boston boutiques. At the age of 21 she worked for Charlie Adams in
his Cambridge garage, the beginning of Raytheon.
Mollie married Tom Morrissey from Dorchester on September 5,1943 and they settled in
Watertown, where he worked for the Watertown Arsenal. They and family members built
Mollie’s new home on County Road in Tewksbury in 1950. While her three children were in
school, Mollie was on staff at Vogue Dolls in Waltham and later Tennis Creations in Brookline,
where she sewed and on occasion modeled at Longwood Cricket Club and Abercrombie and Fitch
in New York City. At night she attended Fitchburg State enabling her to teach tailoring and
advanced sewing at Tewksbury and Wilmington schools. She felt fortunate to be working full
time at Millipore in Bedford, while shortly later her beloved first husband, Tom, passed away on
November 8,1977.
Mollie was among the first members of St. Dorothy’s Church, and the St. Dorothy’s
Sodality, was a member of the Red Hat Society with her dear friend, Helen Hair, was a member
of the Tewksbury Golden Age Club, and a daily visitor to the Tewksbury Senior Center.
In June of 1981, Mollie married Freddie DiGiovanni from Tewksbury, whom she had
known for 25 years, and they wonderfully combined their two families with love, music and Italian
feasts. They traveled often to California and the east coast, until Freddie died on May 23, 1997.
She is survived by her children with Tom: Thomas Morrissey, Jr., and Terry Morrissey,
both of Tewksbury, Linda Neeley and her husband Cecil of Alton Bay, NH; her children from
Freddie’s side: Joyce Trinchera of Wilmington, and Dennis DiGiovanni and his wife Nancy of
Sandwich, Cape Cod; six grandchildren, Robert Mott of Laconia, NH, Marc Trinchera and Ryan
Trinchera of Wilmington, David DiGiovanni of Sandwich, MA, Amy DiGiovanni and Paul
DiGiovanni of Milford, NH; three sisters, Stella Goulet and her husband Roger of Attleboro, Lucy
Sosnowski of Andover, and Marion Sanborn and her husband Chuck of Spring Hill, FL; a sister-
in-law, Martha Jasilewicz of Tyngsboro; and many nieces and nephews.
She was also the sister of the late Helen Domurat and Benny Jasilewicz.
Mollie’s Funeral Mass was celebrated on Friday, Nov. 9, at St. Dorothy’s
Church, Wilmington. Burial will followed at St. Bernard’s Cemetery in Concord,
MA. Memorials to
the Tewksbury Friends of Elderly, Building Fund, c/o Linda Brabant, 460 East St. Tewksbury,
MA 01876, will be appreciated.