Obituary of Blanche Ann Spinosa

Bianca “Bea” Spinosa passed away on June 7, 2019, at home surrounded by family and friends.  Bea was born on May 31, 1919, and her loving family and community celebrated her 100th year with great joy and admiration.

Bea was born in Brockton, Massachusetts to Nina and Giovanni Tallarida as the first of five children.  Bea was the widow of Alfred “Al” Spinosa, whom she married on January 6, 1945 in a record-breaking Massachusetts blizzard.  After moving to Fairview, Bianca and Alfred had three children, Dennis, Arlene (Spinosa) Dodd (Richard), and Deborah Spinosa.  Bea was preceded in death by Alfred and Dennis, and her siblings, Primo Tallarida, Gloria (Tallarida) Cristiani, and Pia (Tallarida) Szymkiewicz, Bianca is survived by her “baby” brother, Stenio Tallarida (Noni).  Bianca has many grandchildren and great grandchildren, all of whom she adored:  Elana, Denis, and David Spinosa (Patricia), Amanda Moshier, Kim (Dodd) Quintana (Anthony), Aidan Richardson, Nicholas Pierro, Sophia and Vincent Quintana, Patrick and Joshua Spinosa.

Bianca was a devoted charter member of Our Lady of Grace Rosary Altar Society since 1952, and served as President for two years. Bea loved singing in the church choir and serving as a Eucharistic Minister with her husband, Al.  Bea also taught in the Confraternity of Christian Doctrine program for years, and greatly enjoyed her interaction with children of all ages.

To say Bea enjoyed life would be a great understatement.  Her interests included ballroom dancing, baking, cooking, exercising, beating all comers at Scrabble, finishing daily crossword puzzles, listening to opera, attending Broadway plays and musicals, playing various card games, visiting friends who were alone, speaking and writing precisely and correctly, keeping long-held traditions for Christmas Eve, Lent and Easter, and reading, reading, reading.

Those lucky enough to count Bianca as a friend would agree that she never failed to remember everyone’s birthdays and anniversaries, always sending a sweet card and acknowledgement.  Through the years in her Fairview neighborhood, it was not unusual to see Bea leading a group of neighborhood children house to house for Christmas caroling and trick or treating, or to see her in line for Mr. Softee ice cream on summer evenings, or sitting on her porch “people watching”.  Bianca had the enthusiasm of a child, and the wisdom of a learned scholar.  As a very close friend of Bea’s said, Bea was the “ladiest lady I’ve ever known”.

There will be a funeral mass on June 11, 2019, at 10:30 o’clock at Our Lady of Grace Church, 400 Kamena Street, Fairview, NJ. In lieu of flowers, please send donations to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.  Interment will be at Memorial Park Cemetery, 5750 49th Street N., St. Petersburg, FL.