Mary Jane Vespa

Mary Jane Vespa, 85, who resided in Florida for approximately 39 years, passed away peacefully on Thursday, October 23, 2025, after a long battle with dementia. Despite her mind and memory diminishing day by day over the last five years, she retained her gentle spirit, smile, sense of humor and laughter until the last few weeks.

She was born in Youngstown, Ohio on November 6, 1939, the daughter of Dominic and Esterina Massullo and spent her final years residing in Northeast Florida near family.

She met her husband of sixty-seven years, Palmerino, in Bagnoli del Trigno, Italy in 1957. After two short weeks of courtship, akin to the scenes in the Godfather movie, they were married on September 14, 1957, in the small church in Bagnoli. She returned to the United States shortly after that and had to wait six months to begin their married life. She helped Palmerino every step of their long journey together from teaching him to speak English in his early days in America to supporting his endeavors and helping him through his mental health challenges. She worked tirelessly alongside her husband to make a loving home in Youngstown, Ohio. She raised three children, started a tailoring and tuxedo rental business with her husband, and managed the day-to-day finances and operations of that business single-handedly many times while her husband embarked on real estate development in Ohio and Florida. She, along with her husband, obtained a real estate sales agent license in Florida to represent clients as well as to handle their own real estate businesses.

Through the years she was active in the Italian American Club in Florida, the Ladies Bagnolese Club in Ohio holding leadership positions, a bocce team, bowling league and the Red Hats Society. She enjoyed making crafts including a variety of hand painted ceramic gifts for her children including the Madonna, Christmas trees, and angels. She took pride investing in the stock market online, cooking great Italian dinners, and hosting big parties for friends and family on many occasions. She traveled the world with her husband and enjoyed many long vacation cruises with family and friends. She loved to dance and to indulge in sweet desserts. Music calmed her mind and she loved to sing “You are my sunshine” and “Jingle Bells” no matter the time of year!!

She had a huge heart and a great sense of humor, loving to take center stage telling jokes as if she was a standup comedian. The holidays were joyous because of her and filled with the family singing carols, playing instruments, love and laughter. She inspired and financially supported her children to achieve the doctorate degrees of their desire. She valued each of her children for their unique traits and talents and above all else, she always felt being a good mother was her greatest accomplishment in life.

In her final years in memory care, she became the favorite of every nurse and caregiver. She thanked everyone who helped her, and everyone was beautiful to her no matter their physical appearance, age, or background. She will be remembered best for the unconditional love she bestowed on everyone.

A memorial service honoring Mary Jane’s life will be held at 11:30 am on Tuesday, December 23, 2025, at the Hardage-Giddens Oaklawn Legacy Lodge, with a lunch reception for family and friends to follow after the burial.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the Alzheimer’s Association https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/donate.

Mary Jane is survived by her children Adele (David), Linda (Mark) and Paul (Mary), sister Gilda, nieces and nephews, godchildren, and relatives in Italy.

To view service through livestream, please follow these links:

https://www.youtube.com/live/z7syHQ0waOk

https://www.youtube.com/live/hpCv-ULb3FI