Theodore A. Dada (Ted) of Wellesley and formerly of Brewster, MA died Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston after an extended illness. He was 89.
Born in Salem, MA and raised in Syracuse NY, he was a son of the late John B. Dada and Valeta (Fugere) Dada. Mr. Dada was a resident of Wellesley for 45 years.
He graduated from St. Anthony of Padua High School in Syracuse, NY, attended Niagara University and graduated from Syracuse University as a Greek and Latin scholar. He played basketball at both Niagara and Syracuse and was an intercollegiate boxing champion. In World War II, he served as 1st Lieutenant in the 122nd Infantry Battalion, the first all Greek battalion in the U.S. Army. He landed at Utah Beach in Normandy, France on D-Day. Shortly thereafter he was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
Mr. Dada was a teacher at Framingham North High School where he served as Director of the school’s Work Study Program and coached the tennis team for many years with great distinction. After retirement in 1981, he worked as a bookkeeper at Captain Marden’s Seafood in Wellesley and enjoyed spending time on Cape Cod at his home in Brewster, MA. He was a forty year member of the Wellesley Country Club where he was an accomplished tennis player. He was Past Commander of the Disabled Officer’s Association at the Boston Navy Yard and a member of the Officer’s Club at the Hanscom Air Force Base. He was a faithful parishioner of St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley Hills.
Mr. Dada was survived by his beloved wife of 49 years, Margaret E. (Cotter) Dada, his sons, John S. Dada of Litchfield CT and Timothy F. Dada and his wife Christine of Charlton, MA, his sister, Bernadette Welch and brother-in law Jack Welch of Fayetteville, NY, three grandsons, Joshua S. Dada of Worcester, MA, Geoffrey J. Dada of Tempe, AZ and Jake Dada of Warren, CT, three nieces, Katherine Mullen of Queens NY, Mary Mullen, M.D. of Wellesley, MA and Elizabeth Mullen, M.D. of Needham, MA and many other nieces and nephews. Mr. Dada’s wonderful spirit, his love of life, his singing voice, his ringing laugh and his devotion to family and Church will be sorely missed by his family and friends.
A funeral Mass was celebrated on Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Wellesley Hills. Burial followed in St. Mary’s Cemetery, Needham, MA.
Arrangements were made under the direction of the George F. Doherty and Sons Funeral Home, Wellesley, MA. Expressions of sympathy may be made in Mr. Dada’s name to St. John the Evangelist Church, 9 Glen Road, Wellesley Hills, MA 02481