Mary Baccoli, 84

LEE, Mass. — Mary Rose Contenta Baccoli, 84, of East Center Lee passed away peacefully at Mount Carmel Care Center in Lenox on Sunday, November 27, 2016, surrounded by her loving family.

She was born on June 19, 1932, in Pittsfield, the daughter of Augusto and Ester DiMicco Contenta. She attended Pittsfield schools, graduating in 1951 from Pittsfield High School.

After graduating, Mary was employed as a bookkeeper at Brown Express. On September 18, 1954, she married Michael Baccoli at All Souls Church in Pittsfield. While raising her family in Lee, she worked as a waitress from the mid-1960s and for the next 20 years at various local restaurants, including Maple Hill, The East Lee Steak House, and The Lenox House. After her waitressing career, she worked at Lee Bank as an administrative assistant in the checking department, retiring in the late 1990s.

Mary was a communicant of St. Mary’s Church in Lee, where she was a faithful member of the Adoration Society, a choir member, and also a member of the former St. Mary Martha Sodality. For many years, she volunteered at the St. Mary’s School lunch program. She also was a member of the G. Marconi Lodge #1620 Sons of Italy in Lee, the Lee Red Hats Society and a regular volunteer on Divine Mercy Sunday weekend at the National Shrine of The Divine Mercy on Eden Hill in Stockbridge.

Her hobbies included cooking, especially making and sharing the best soups in town; sewing; needlework; crocheting; doing cross-word puzzles; and going to the casinos on various bus trips with her husband. She also enjoyed taking occasional trips to Italy on pilgrimage and visiting relatives. Her special joy in life was to spend time with her family. 

She leaves her two daughters, Paula M. Valenti and her husband Daniel of Stockbridge and Letitia A. LePrevost and her husband John of Lee; her three sons, Michael J. Baccoli and his wife Holly of Lee, Francis P. Baccoli and his wife Kimberlee of Greenfield Center, N.Y., and Matthew J. Baccoli and his wife Katie of Apple Valley, Minn.; three sisters-in-law, Josephine Contenta of Pittsfield, Mary Masiero of Lenox, and Hilary Walker of Lee; 10 grandchildren, Cara, Kaitlyn, Chantal, Nicole, Andrew, Alexander, Emily, Jennifer, Matthew, and Michael; and several nieces, nephews, and cousins. 

She was predeceased by her husband, Michael; a daughter, Angela; and brothers Joseph and Americo Contenta. 

Funeral notice: Funeral services for Mary R. Baccoli will be held at 9:15 a.m. Friday, Dec. 2, 2016, from the Kelly Funeral Home, with a Liturgy of Christian Burial to be celebrated at 10 a.m. at St. Mary’s Church in Lee with the Rev. Brian McGrath, pastor, officiating. Burial will follow in St. Mary’s Cemetery. 

Visiting hours will be Thursday, Dec. 1, 2016, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the funeral Home. Friends may make donations in her memory to St. Mary’s Church, Lee, MA or Hospice Care of the Berkshires, in care of Kelly Funeral Home, 3 Main St., Lee, MA 01238.