Published in the September 17, 2020 edition.
By GAIL LOWE
WAKEFIELD — A birthday at any age is a good reason to celebrate, but when it involves 100 years of life? It’s time to strike up the band.
Joseph (Joe) E. Rapallo, Brightview Senior Living resident since 2018, will turn 100 years old on Saturday, Oct. 17, and though it’s unlikely a band will be playing his favorite tunes, he and his family are exploring ways to mark this incredible milestone in a memorable way, in spite of the coronavirus pandemic.
The former Pine Hill Circle, Wakefield resident’s daughter Gale Rapallo commented that her family is “lucky” that family members got to celebrate Joe’s 99th birthday a year ago, and now they’re wondering how they can come up with ways to make his 100th even more memorable.
Joe was born in Boston’s North End in 1920 but spent a majority of his life in Medford. Then, in the late 1990s, he and his wife moved to Wakefield. Over his lifetime, he worked as a licensed electrician at what is now known as the Boston Navy Yard before becoming self-employed in the trade. His family cannot recall a single day when he didn’t go to work.
According to daughter Gale, when Joe was 20 years old, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy at the beginning of the war effort in 1941 and fought some of the deadliest battles during WWII.
She shared with the Daily Item that the City of Medford bestows a special honor on veterans’ families whose siblings served together in WWII. There were four Rapallo brothers who served along with their cousin Joseph. These five young men were further honored with the dedication of the “Rapallo Family Corner” at Bow Street and Frederick Avenue (Medford).
Eventually, Joe married his sweetheart, Marjorie Deschamps, and they have been married for 62 years. The couple have another daughter, Karen, who also lives in Wakefield and is a registered nurse at Boston Children’s Hospital. Gale lives in Pasadena, Calif., with her husband and built her career as a psychologist.
“My father had a lot of friends and worked until he was 90 years old,” said Gale. “He would meet them at the corner store in Medford for coffee for over 50 years until a few years ago.”
Gale has fond memories of her father and said that over his lifetime, he had a “strong work ethic and grit.”
At age 96, he demonstrated his grit when he broke his ankle and insisted on going up and down the stairs on his backside but unassisted. “He used his arms to lift himself step by step,” said Gale.
“My father is persistent, and against the family’s opposition, he shoveled the snow in his driveway well into his 90s,” said Gale. “In fact, a one-word description of him would be ‘grit.’ It took grit to live through the Great Depression, working in Civilian Conservation Camps and the battles of WWII, not to mention raising two daughters.”
Joe could be a little cagey, too. “He would never admit to dozing off and would always say, ‘I wasn’t sleeping. I was looking down and may I never miss a rainbow or sunset because I’m looking down.’”
Joe still walks every day around the block, sometimes stopping at Sabatino’s to eat lunch.
He attributes his longevity to having solid relationships with family and friends, a career he enjoyed, a love for animals, abstinence from alcohol and not smoking for the past 50 years.
“His one-arm push-ups have helped a lot, too,” Gale quipped.
He loves to quote baseball great Mickey Mantle: “If I knew I was going to live this long, I would have taken better care of myself.”
From his friends at the Daily Item — Happy birthday, Joe!
