Benedetta R. Cocozza

Benedetta R. (San Antonio) Cocozza, 100, passed away Monday, February 4, 2019. Known as Betty or Nanna to family and friends, she was born to Giuseppe and Genoveffa San Antonio on June 22, 1918. On January 18, 1942, she married Pasquale A. Cocozza and devoted herself to being wife, mother, and Nanna.

Betty was a woman of deep faith, strength, and wisdom. She possessed and shared her sense of all people and things as beautiful and life as being full of blessings.  She had a warm smile and a contagious laugh that would vibrate through everyone she loved or met.  Betty's deepest joy was her family. She excelled in creating and sharing Italian traditions and cooking and being ready for any trip or adventure where family would gather. One of her favorite destinations of course was Salisbury beach. 

She delighted greatly in watching her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren grow and succeed. Every one of their individual personalities, talents, and accomplishments made her smile with pride and boast a bit to anyone who would listen.

A skilled seamstress, Betty used her skills to make clothing for herself and her children.  She worked most of her adult life as a stitcher for Tyer Rubber Company and Converse in Andover. Widowed at 42, she used these skills to provide for her children, never missing an opportunity to give her all.

She welcomed all into her embrace becoming Nanna, positive supporter or giver of love and welcome to all she met.  

Betty was predeceased by her husband Pasquale, her four brothers, one sister, many of her brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law, her daughters-in-law, Frances Kattar Cocozza and Susan Jensen.  She is survived by her loving family, Camille, Joseph and Sandi, Patricia and Kate, Keith and Paula, Melissa and Lou, Peter and Ruth, Daniel and Rachel, and her beloved great-grandchildren, Andrew, Isabella, Charlotte, Ava, Arran, Nicholas, and Claudia, her sister, Flora, and sisters-in-law Elise, Dorothy, and Rita and many nieces and nephews, and friends who became family.  

The family would like to thank the staff of Marguerite House, MI Nursing Restorative Center, and Merrimack Hospice for the love and care they provided to Betty and her family. 

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend visiting hours on Sunday, February 10, 2019 from 3:00-7:00 PM at Cataudella Funeral Home, 126 Pleasant Valley Street in Methuen. Her funeral mass will be celebrated at 10:00 AM on Monday, February 11, 2019 at Corpus Christi Parish at Holy Rosary Church, 35 Essex Street in Lawrence. Burial will be in Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Lawrence.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to MI Nursing Restorative Center, Inc., 172 Lawrence St., Lawrence, MA 01841.  Please reference that donations are in memory of Benedetta Cocozza and specify in memo either Marguerite's House Assisted Living or MI Nursing Restorative Center.