Mary Theresa Giannone

Mary Theresa (Maietta) Giannone, age 102 died peacefully of natural causes in the comfort of her home on Saturday July 30, 2022.   

One of 10 children, she was born in Burlington, VT on November 21, 1920, and was the daughter of Raffaele and Clementina (D’ Agostino) Maietta.  She was a 1937 graduate of Cathedral High School. On April 26, 1943 Mary was wed to her beloved husband, Ralph C. Giannone, with whom she shared 59 years of marriage.  

They began their family in Burlington, VT where they ran the Corner Cottage Restaurant. In 1956, they moved to Pittsfield after discovering the Berkshires on a vacation. In 1957, they purchased the Breezy Knoll Inn and the Sugar Bowl Restaurant. They sold the Inn in 1967 and continued to run the Sugar Bowl until Ralph’s death in September 2000. 

Mary was a long-time communicant of the former St. Theresa’s Church and then St. Joseph’s Church.  She sang in the church choirs, was a member of the rosary sodality, and volunteered at the church bazaar. For several years she enjoying performing with the Sweet Adelines. Mary was a devoted supporter of the American Cancer Society and worked in the canvassing program for years. She did beautiful needlepoint, once winning a blue ribbon at the Martha’s Vineyard Agricultural Society Fair.

Mary played high school basketball (even though she stood just 4’ 11” tall), and loved watching the Boston Celtics.  She was an avid walker.

During WW II Mary worked in the Fellows Gear Shaper Company as a “Rosie the Riveter”.  Her experience making gears for military equipment in this defense plant is recorded as part of the oral history transcripts deposited to the Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Bank in Richmond, California and to the Bancroft Library for scholarly use.

Mary is survived by her four daughters, Theresa (Terry) Costello (Raymond), and Mary M. Talmi (Akivia)  both of Pittsfield, Patricia A. Dunn of Adams and Maria T. McFarland (Kevin) of West Tisbury, MA; her two sisters, Elveta Brunelle (Donald) of Winooski, VT and Fran Lovejoy (Reggie) of Phoenix, AZ, her four grandsons, Patrick Costello (Jill), Thomas Costello (Deanne), Dan Talmi and Ben Talmi; and her five great grandchildren, Brielle and Brennan Costello, Corrine and Connor Costello, and Penelope Mitchell, along with many nieces and nephews.   

A Liturgy of Christian Burial will be held Monday, August 8, 2022 at 9:00 AM at St. Joseph’s Church, 414 North Street, Pittsfield.  Burial will follow on Tuesday, August 9, 2022 at 12:00 noon in the family plot in Resurrection Park Cemetery, South Burlington, VT.  There will be no calling hours. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations  may be made payable to, the American Cancer Society, a cause close to Mary’s heart, and mailed to the Devanny-Condron Funeral Home, 40 Maplewood Avenue, Pittsfield, MA 01201.