Carmen Margarito
August 8, 1955 – November 3, 2021
Carmen L. Margarito was born into eternal life on Wednesday, November 3 from the peaceful surroundings of her home with her loving and caring family by her side. She was 66 years old.
Born in Santurce Puerto Rico, she was a beloved daughter of the late Andres Margarito and Carmen Soveral Margarito.
Carmen received her early education in Puerto Rico. As a young lady and mother of three, she brought her young family to Brooklyn, NY in 1972. There she continued her education attending Touro College and began her life of activism to improve the situation of her family and community. Attending Touro, she was a driving force creating work-study courses there and as a member and vice president of the PS 314 Parent Teachers Association (PTA), she advocated for the construction of a school annex to better serve the students.
She settled with her family in Chelsea in 1989 and was active in the Chelsea Hispanic Community belonging to Central Hispano and the Chelsea Collaborative.
She was never elected to public office but supported and campaigned for many local candidates. She worked for over 25 years with MGH and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital as a Unit Coordinator. Illness forced her to retire early in her career.
A longtime resident of Chelsea, she also lived in Everett and Salem and only recently moved to Haverhill.
In her lifetime, Carmen maintained a strong devotion to her home and family, she loved to COOK, and she made sure that no one ever left her home hungry.
In addition to her parents, Carmen was also predeceased by a sister, Elba Soveral. She will be the forever loved mother of Jorge L. Davila, Jr. and his wife, Janel of Lawrence, Jesenia Mercado and her husband, Ricardo of Haverhill and Eleina Camacho and her husband, Jose of Lynn. She was the cherished grandmother of Ezequiel, Elijah and Jacelee Davila, Teddy, Mimi, Vicki and Macho Marcado and Devan, Leeza and Dante Camacho; the adoring great-grandmother of Izabella and Andrea Camacho and dear sister of Gladys Margarito of IA.
A prayer service and service of remembrance was held on Monday, November 8 in the Welsh Funeral Home, 718 Broadway, Chelsea. To send expressions of sympathy, visit www.welshFH.com.
Charles “Honey” Lanzillo, Sr.
WWII Veteran and Devoted Family Man
Charles F. “Honey” Lanzillo, Sr., a lifelong resident of Chelsea and a member of The Greatest Generation who served the nation with unwavering fortitude, died peacefully at home on Saturday, Nov. 6, at the age of 101.
Mr. Lanzillo was predeceased by his wife of 67 years, Dorothy D. (Beaulieu) Lanzillo, who died in 2010.
Mr. Lanzillo grew up and lived for most of his life on Chester Avenue. It was his mother who conferred upon him the nickname “Honey” on account of the headful of golden curls he had as a little boy. The longtime Lanzillo family home on Chester Avenue was where Mr. Lanzillo and his wife raised their three children, all of whom are products of the Chelsea public schools.
He attended the Shurtleff School and earned his Chelsea High School diploma with the Class of 1939. A lifelong member of the Class of ’39 annual reunion committee, he treasured the friendships made at Chelsea High and did all he could to keep classmates connected through the years.
After attending the former State Teachers College in Bridgewater, MA., (now Bridgewater State University), Mr. Lanzillo answered the call to fight in World War II. He enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on September 11, 1942 and served until his honorable discharge on Nov. 25, 1945, three months after the Japanese surrender.
Possessing an abundance of intellect and mechanical skills, Mr. Lanzillo earned certification in airplane mechanics, with a specialty in the maintenance and repair of the B-17 aircraft, a critical component of the arsenal that defeated the Axis powers on three continents. His training took Mr. Lanzillo, and later, too, his wife, to bases in Amarillo and Delhart, TX, and then to McCook Air Base in Nebraska.
While stationed in Nebraska, he and Dorothy, due to limited housing at McCook, lived for a time in the nearby home of a family by the name of Nelson. During that period, while advancing to the position of flight engineer, he received training on both the B-17 and B-29 bombers.
The Nelsons had a son named Benjamin, who would go on to serve Nebraska as governor (1991-99) and U.S. senator (2001-13). At Senator Nelson’s initiative, Mr. Lanzillo and he re-established contact during the early-2000’s. Whenever the senator was attending an event in the Boston area, he would invite Mr. Lanzillo to be his guest and would always make a point of introducing “Charlie” to the audience as a longtime friend of his family and “a true American patriot.”
In 1943, Mr. Lanzillo was promoted to the rank of technical sergeant and sent to the war’s Pacific theater, where, as a crew chief, he was responsible for keeping B-17s and B-29s battle-ready, and would have the final say on whether the craft under his care and supervision could be deployed in the skies against the enemy.
He was assigned successively to the Marianna Islands and Tinian Island, from which the historic, war-ending flights that dropped atomic bombs on Japan were launched. For most of the war, Mr. Lanzillo served in the 1st squadron of the 9th bomber group (HV) as crew chief for the B-29 named “Dinah Might.”
Illustrative of his skills and value to the war effort, Tech Sergeant Lanzillo was brought on a special flight from Tinian to the island of Iwo Jima late in the winter of 1945, where one of the bloodiest battles of World War II was raging. His assignment: repair a B-29 that had made an emergency landing there when it was unable to draw fuel from its second tank. As a crew chief, he oversaw the maintenance of aircraft that went on innumerable combat missions. For his exemplary service, he was awarded the Bronze Star, the Asiatic Pacific Theater Campaign Ribbon, the American Theater Campaign Ribbon, the Good Conduct Medal and the Certificate of Appreciation for War Service.
After the war, Mr. Lanzillo went to work in the composing room of The Chelsea Record, then a high-circulation daily newspaper, and long regarded as one of the city’s bedrock institutions. With his formidable mechanical skills, serious mindset and endless drive for perfection, Mr. Lanzillo became a major cog in the operations of “The Record” — and he remained so during his decades of employment there. With a knowledge of the community only held by true “Chelsea guys,” he was also a quiet, unerring source of help and inspiration to new reporters who joined the publication’s editorial staff through the years.
Mr. Lanzillo retired from the newspaper in 1981. Subsequently, he worked at printing companies in the Chelsea-Everett-Revere area. Where some in the printing business saw old and troublesome equipment, he saw marvelous machines needing the touch of an experienced hand and the mind of mechanic who loved the industry.
Upon retirement, Mr. Lanzillo and his wife moved to the Chelsea Village Apartments at Admiral’s Hill, and, several years after his wife’s death, he moved to the Cohen Florence Levine Estates assisted living facility, also at Admiral’s Hill.
Mr. Lanzillo was devoted to his family and loved creating special memories with each of his children. He also took pride in volunteering at events in his neighborhood, such as the annual Fourth of July celebration at Highland Park.
Family survivors include his son, Dr. Charles F. Lanzillo, Jr., M.D., and his wife, Sharon of Lakewood Ranch, FL; daughter, Susan DeSantis and her husband, Andrew of Saugus; daughter, Joan Hahesy and her husband, David of Revere; grandchildren: Dr. Charles F. Lanzillo, III, M.D., Richard Marotta, Jr. and Mathew Marotta.. He also leaves five great-grandchildren: Mason Marotta, Max Marotta, Alexis Fyfe, Sylvie Lanzillo and Tippi Lanzillo.
Mr. Lanzillo was predeceased by his parents, Louis Lanzillo and Catherine (Smith) Lanzillo, and by his siblings: Anthony Lanzillo, Angelina (Dolly) Cimino, Louis Lanzillo, Jr., Lorraine Beaulieu, Richard (Dick) Lanzillo and Grace Giannantonio.
Visiting hours will be held from the Welsh Funeral Home, 718 Broadway, Chelsea on Thursday Nov. 11 “Veterans Day” from 4 to 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are most kindly invited to attend. In order to protect the public health, we advise all visitors to wear face masks while in the Funeral Home. Funeral from the Welsh Funeral Home on Friday, Nov.12 at 9 a.m. followed by a Funeral Mass in St. Rose Church, 600 Broadway Chelsea at 10 a.m. Services will conclude with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Malden.
Should friends desire, contributions in Charles’ name may be made to Chelsea Jewish Life Center, 201 Captain’s Row, Chelsea, MA 02150. https://chelseajewish.org/donate-now/
For directions or to send expressions of sympathy visit: www.welshFH.com
James Tanner
FDA Retiree, Former Mass DAV State Commander and Treasurer and Lifelong Patriot
James H. Tanner of Lynn passed away October 9 at the age of 73 following a brief illness.
Jim graduated from Everett Vocational High School in 1966. He subsequently graduated from ITT Technical Institute; Bryant and Stratton Junior College and Northeastern University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Technology.
He was a veteran of the United States Navy, serving with VAQ-33, an aviation Electronic Counter Measures squadron on both aircraft carriers USS Intrepid and USS Independence.
Jim worked in the medical device industry for over 35 years and was employed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as an investigator for over 26 years. He retired as the FDA’s New England District Medical Device Specialist. He was the first FDA-certified Medical Device Auditor, conducting audits, investigations, and training nationwide and in England and Japan.
He earned many FDA awards, including two individual FDA Commendable Service Awards for recognizing and tracking failures of critical medical devices and for infant sleep apnea monitors, which resulted in the prevention of serious physical injuries or deaths to patients.
Jim was active in the Disabled American Veterans, where he served as both the Massachusetts State Commander and State Treasurer; the Chelsea Chapter DAV Commander; President of the national DAV State Commanders Association and as a DAV National Executive Committee member. He was recognized by the DAV and Veterans Administration for having 2,500 volunteer hours at the Bedford (MA) VA Hospital as a DAV Service Officer advocate, assisting veterans in obtaining their earned benefits.
He was a Notary Public; a member of the Cary Square Club in Chelsea; the Gen. Lander Civil War Round Table in Lynn, the South Weymouth Naval Air Station VP Association, the Massachusetts Selective Service System Appeals Board and the American Society of Quality, where he was a senior member and a Certified Qualified Auditor.
Following his retirement, Jim traveled around the country with his late wife Donna while she proudly served as National Commander of the DAV Auxiliary and, following her passing, with Nadine, an amateur Civil War historian and editor of historical publications. He enjoyed photography, studying history, traveling to Civil War battlefields with his Civil War Round Table friends; living part-time in St. Petersburg, FL, socializing with his many companions and friends and – especially – spending time with his dear grandson, Cyrus. He was an amateur genealogist, finding out recently that he was a descendant of Roger Williams, a Puritan dissident who left Massachusetts for Rhode Island, where he could escape the oppression of the Boston Puritans.
He was the son of the late Edith V. (Dahlquist) Tanner and John J. Tanner of Chelsea. Jim leaves his loving wife, Nadine H. Mironchuk, and beloved son, Daniel and grandson, Cyrus of Lynn. Jim was predeceased by his cherished wife Donna (Higgins) Tanner.
A Celebration of Life in honor of Jim will be held Friday, November 19 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the DAV’s Lt. Dexter W. Clifford Chapter 85 Hall, 85 Willow St., Malden, where military honors will be held. A buffet lunch will follow. All are welcome to attend and share memories of a lifelong patriot, a loyal friend and a loving husband, father and grandfather.
Inturnment in Bay Pines National Cemetery in Tampa, FL, will take place at a later date.
Hazel Ells
Of Chelsea
Hazel W. (Walters) Ells of Chelsea, 102, died on Thursday, November 4.
She was the beloved wife of the late John A. Ells and George Zielinski, devoted mother of Patricia Middleton and her husband, Robert of Greenfield, NH, the late George Zielinski, survived by his wife, Carol of Arizona and Eileen “Leenie” Bradley and her husband, Hugh “Butch” of Rockport; cherished grandmother of Michael Middleton, James Middleton, Shane Zielinski, Wade Zielinski, William Bradley and his wife, Eileen and the late David Middleton; adoring great-grand mother of Lara Middleton, Olivia, Bailey and Willow Middleton, Shayna Zielinski-Johnson, Arrow Zielinski, Maggie Bradley and Max Bradley and loving great great-grandmother of Aubrey, Jameson and Charisma; loving daughter of the late Samuel and Marion (Magoun) Walters and dear sister of the
late William Walters, Edith Radrewicz, Alfred Walters, and Samuel Walters; beloved sister-in law of the late Estelle and Frank Zielinski. She is also survived by many extended family members of the Ells and Zielinski Families.
A celebration of “HAZEL’S WONDERFUL LIFE” will be announced and held at a later date when friends and family can gather safely to remember this most special woman.
Arrangements were given to the care and direction of the Welsh Funeral Home. For online guest book or to send expressions of sympathy, please visit; www.WelshFH.com.