Elena Anne Emery, age 88, late Friday afternoon, October 18, 2019, loving wife and mother of three children, passed away peacefully at Fallbrook Woods following a long illness.
She was born on January 5, 1931 to Gregory & Philomena Ferrucci St. Angelo. She attended Portland schools graduating from Portland High School in 1949. On August 22, 1953, she married her high school sweetheart, Richard “Dick” Francis Emery and began to live the nomadic life of a military wife. Elena and Dick raised three children, Richard Jr., Kathryn and Timothy.
Elena embraced working for the various Marine Corps support organizations while her husband served all around the world. She was a devout Catholic, involved in teaching catechism and confirmation classes, being a member of the Sacred Heart Society, and volunteering to help at the Bazaar honoring the feast of St. Rocco at St. Peter’s Catholic Church every year that she was able to participate.
When Elena and her family moved back to Portland following Dick’s retirement from the Marine Corps, she began working at the former Porteous, Mitchell and Braun in Portland, where she used her creativity to design table settings for the china department. Later, she worked at Mass Mutual on Exchange Street in Portland until her retirement in 1992. After her retirement, she occasionally worked at the L.L. Bean call center.
Elena was a lover of the arts and a highly creative individual. She played violin and attended many Portland Symphony Orchestra and Port Opera performances, as well as pop and country concerts and musical theaters. She also painted, wrote short stories and poetry, sewed, knitted, crocheted, and worked on needlepoint and other crafts. In addition, she was an avid reader. Elena also enjoyed and excelled at cooking and baking, and was known for her delicious chocolate chip cookies and Italian meals. She enjoyed traveling with Dick and together they visited Italy, Ireland, England, Hawaii, Branson, Missouri, and Canada. Her family was always number one priority and she was a loving and devoted mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother.
Elena is predeceased by her parents, loving husband, sister, Lena Duchesneau, and brother, Gregory St. Angelo.
She leaves her three children, Richard Jr., and his wife Maria Emery, Kathryn and her husband Norman Coupland, and Timothy, four grandchildren; Shannon, Benjamin, Michael and Maeve Emery, three great-grandchildren; Elias, Lockeland, and Marcellus, step-grandchildren, Richard and Carlyle Smart, Derek Poulin, and Roy Simmons. She also leaves her sister, Maria Ifill, sister-in-law, Norma St. Angelo, cousins, Anne White, Thomas Ferrucci, and Mary Ann and her husband Paul Foley, as well as several other cousins, nieces and nephews.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend a time of visitation on Thursday October 24, 2019 from 4-7PM at Jones, Rich & Barnes Funeral Home, 199 Woodford St.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday October 25, 2019 at 10AM at St. Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, Federal St., Portland.
Interment will follow in the family lot at Calvary Cemetery, South Portland.
For further information, and to send a tribute in Elena’s memory please visit www.jonesrichandbarnes.com.
The family wishes to thank the staff at Fallbrook Woods and Hospice of Southern Maine team for their loving and compassionate care of our beloved mother.
In lieu of flowers, family and friends may donate to one of Elena’s favorite charities:
Hospice of South Maine, 180 US Rt #1, Scarborough, ME. 04074
Autism Society of Maine, 72 Main St. B., Winthrop, ME. 04364
American Cancer Society, 1 Bowdoin Mill Island #300, Topsham, ME. 04086
St.Peter’s Roman Catholic Church, 72 Federal St, Portland, Me. 04101
