Josephine R. Furdon

Waltham – Mrs. Josephine R. 'Jo' (Rizzo) Furdon, of Waltham, died Thursday, March 7, 2013 at her home. She was 85.

Josephine was born in Waltham on May, 8, 1927, one of nine children born to the late Joseph and Grace (DiGuiseppe) Rizzo, both natives of Sicily. She was a lifelong resident of Waltham and a 1944 graduate of Waltham High School.

After that she worked for nine years at Waltham Automotive where she met her future husband, William E. Furdon. Jo remarked to her children that one of the happiest days in her life was when Bill got off the troop train at the Carter Street station after having been away for a year and a half serving as a master sergeant with the United States Army in Korea. The homecoming was particularly poignant not only for Jo but for Bill's family as well . . . an older brother, US Army PVT John F. Furdon had been killed in action in Salerno in September, 1943.

After their marriage in Sacred Heart Church in Waltham on April 11, 1953 Bill and Jo settled in Waltham where they raised their family of five children. Bill became a Waltham firefighter and Jo stayed at home to care for him and the children. When they were all in school she went back to work outside the house for the Waltham School Department, first as a bookkeeper and later as a secretary, at the Fitzgerald Elementary School on Beal Road.

She was a longtime member of Waltham's Regina Margherita DiSavoia Lodge No. 1402 of the Order Sons of Italy in America, the Ladies Guild and the Couples Club, both at Sacred Heart Church, the auxiliary of the Loyal Order of Moose, Lodge No. 1018 in Waltham and the Restless Rustlers, a social group that she and Bill enjoyed many happy times traveling with.

Josephine leaves her childen, Mary Baker, Marcella LaFond and her husband, Paul, Michelle Perkins and her husband, John, all of Waltham, Thomas Furdon and his wife, Cheryl, of Sudbury and William Furdon and his partner, Peter Sellers, of Provincetown; her grandchildren, Melissa Jensen, Gabrielle Repassy, Meghan and Allyson DiGregory and Erica and John Furdon; her great-grandchildren, Samuel, Haley and William Jensen and Dylan and Vivian Repassy; her sisters and brother, Angelina Musci of Waltham, Dominica 'Mimi' Luca of Maynard, Santa Walazek of Auburndale, Salvatore Rizzo of Waltham and Christine Rizzo of Auburndale and
many nieces and nephews.

She was also a sister of the late Antonio Rizzo, Gaetano 'Guy' Rizzo and Basil Rizzo.

Family and friends will honor and remember Josephine's life by gathering for calling hours in The Joyce Funeral Home, 245 Main Street (Rte. 20) Waltham on Sunday, March 10th from 3 to 7 p.m. and again at 9 a.m. on Monday morning before leaving in procession to Saint Mary's Church, 133 School Street, Waltham where her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Burial will follow in Mount Feake Cemetery, Waltham.

Memorial donations may be made to the AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod, P.O. Box 1522, Provincetown, MA 02657 or to the Healing and Restoration Ministry of Fr. Edward McDonough, 1545 Tremont Street, Roxbury, MA 02120.