Columbia C. Taft

04/26/2001

Columbia Claire Taft, 78, of 75 Commercial St. died yesterday morning at North Adams Regional Hospital, where she had been admitted Wednesday. Born in North Adams on June 10, 1922, daughter of Antonio and Maria Gaetana Planzo Cirone, she graduated from Drury High School in 1940. She was a paraprofessional for 16 years in the North Adams school system, where she taught reading to children in the Title I program until her retirement in 1985. In her younger years, she was employed by the former Gale Shoe Co. She was also employed at the former Sprague Electric Co. for several years. Mrs. Taft was a communicant of St. Anthony's Church and a member of the Italian Girls Club, both in North Adams. Her husband, William Gordon Taft Jr., whom she married March 2, 1946, in St. Anthony's Church, died June 23, 1981. She leaves a daughter, Margaret M. Koperniak of Adams; two sons, Lawrence K. Taft and William G. Taft III, both of North Adams; two brothers, Joseph Cirone of Port Orange, Fla., and Albert Cirone of Boynton Beach, Fla., and Adams, and six grandchildren. Funeral Services will be Saturday at 8:15 a.m. from FLYNN & DAGNOLI-MONTAGNA HOME FOR FUNERALS, Central Chapels, 74 Marshall St., North Adams, followed by a Liturgy of Christian Burial at 9 in St. Anthony of Padua Church, North Adams, with the Rev. Daniel J. O'Hear as celebrant. Burial will follow in Southview Cemetery, North Adams. Calling hours at the funeral home will be Friday from 4 to 7. Memorial donations are suggested for the town of Adams Little League through the funeral home. She was predeceased by a granddaughter, Jessica Lynn Taft, who died Dec. 15, 1982. A sister and a brother also predeceased her, Rose Jones, who died Oct. 16, 1989, and Antonio Cirone Jr., who died March 15, 1941.

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