DiRocco, Richard B. Sr.- of Revere formerly of East Boston, passed away peacefully surrounded by his loving family on April 17, 2018 at the age of 69 after a long battle with cancer. Beloved husband to Jonnalee (Hammond) DiRocco of Revere Devoted father to Richard “Jaime” DiRocco of Revere, Gina DiRocco of Cambridge, Anna DiRocco of Lynn, Maria DiRocco of Saugus, Paula DiRocco of Revere, Anthony DiRocco of Revere and the Late Richard DiRocco Jr. Step-Father to Robert Hammond of Chelsea, Chelsea Police Department. Dear brother of Patrica DiRocco, Lawrence “Larry’ DiRocco, Donna Curnane and her husband Joseph, Priscilla “Hilla” Farulla and her husband Paul, Leona Meninno and the late John DiRocco.
Loving son of the late John and Marie (Giardiello) DiRocco. Cherished grandfather to James, Patricia, Mark, Timothy, Juliana, Ayden, Luca and Abby Also loving survived by his many niece and nephews. Family and friends will honor Richard’s life by gathering on Saturday April 28th from 1:00pm.
To 3:00pm at the Ruggiero family Memorial Home 971 Saratoga St (Orient Heights) East Boston with a service in our Serenity Chapel at 2:30pm. Committal services will be private at the family’s request. In honor of Richard, memorial donations may be made to American Cancer Society P.O.Box 22478 Oklahoma City, OK 73123.
Richard, or as he was affectionately known to family and close friends as “Dicky”, was born in Chelsea, Ma on October 15th, 1948 to John and Marie DiRocco. Richard attended Boston Schools and began working in construction at the young age of 15 years old. Richard lived a simple life, not needing much for himself other than a cold beer and a pack of cigarettes but always provided for his family and then some.
In 1970 Richard met his first wife Sara (Stevermen) and had three beautiful children Jaime, Gina and Anna. In 1982 Richard met Jonnalee (Hammond) along with her son Robert. In 1984 Richard moved to Chelsea and shortly after welcomed his third daughter Maria into the world.
In 1985 Richard and Jonnalee, got married after a small ceremony. In 1989 Richard had his second son Richard Jr., followed by Paula “Popo” in 1990 and Anthony in 1992. Throughout Richard’s career he suffered numerous injuries none of which ever stopped him from working and certainly nothing he couldn’t fix with duct tape and paper towels even though a visit to the local emergency room was warranted.
Richard had a very simply work ethic, “get it done” and he always did. He instilled the same in his two Son’s Jaime and Richard Jr., who you would often be seen working along side their father at various job sites. Richard could always be heard yelling “get it done” not only on the job sites but at home as well.
In 2014 Richard and Jonnalee suffered the unbearable loss of their Son, Richard Jr., unexpectedly at the young age of 25. In Richards later years, he was still working just as hard as ever so that he could enjoy the new joys of his life which were his 8 grandchildren. Richard absolutely needed to be in their company whenever possible and was constantly taking them over the years to local parks, restaurants or simply staying in watching movies.
In January of 2018 Richard was told that his cancer had spread and there was nothing more that could be done to keep him on this earth. Richard was told that he had only two weeks to live but him being that fighter that he was, fought till he had no more fight leaving this earth April 17th 2018. Children’s lounge is available.
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