Loved to travel, garden and cook
NORTH READING — Greta J. Barresi, 91, formerly of North Reading, died on Friday, November 18, 2022 in Andover. She was the only child of Martin R. Anderson (born Oscar Martin Rasmusson), an immigrant from Sweden, and Elizabeth (“Bess”) O’Brien, an immigrant from Newfoundland. Soon after Greta’s birth in Arlington, in 1931, probably in the home of a midwife, her mother was admitted to a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients, a disease that was both common and fatal at the time, where she died three years later. Soon after her mother’s admission to the sanatorium, Greta and her father were taken in as boarders by Hilda Kristina (Hylander) Andresen, an immigrant from Sweden, and her husband Sonik (“Sam”) Peter Andresen, a Danish immigrant from an island that had been conquered by imperial Germany, with whom they lived for the next 13 years in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and then Belmont, Massachusetts, until Greta’s father remarried. Hilda and Sam, who had no children of their own, loved Greta unconditionally and became like second parents to her. She remained close to them for the rest of their lives. In 1944, Greta moved out of the Andresens’ home with her father and new stepmother to Arlington, Massachusetts. Greta graduated from Arlington High School in 1948.
In an era when few women attended college, Greta paid her way through Salem State Teacher’s College (now Salem State University), where she studied Business Education. She spent two of those years as a boarding student, first in a private home and then in the Salem Home for Young Women, because there were no dorms on campus at the time. It was at Salem State that she met her future husband, Arthur A. Barresi, a World War II veteran from Lynn, Massachusetts. They married soon after graduating in 1952 and took teaching jobs at the high school in Pepperell, Massachusetts, where two of their three children were born. Greta and Arthur moved to North Reading in 1955 when Arthur was offered a job teaching business subjects in what would be the new high school. He soon became its first Assistant Principal, a post that he held until his retirement in 1987. They settled in a Cape Cod–style house on Nutter Road in what had been an apple orchard before the war, where Arthur would live for almost 45 years and Greta would live for more than 63 years.
The salary of a public school teacher only went so far for a family of four in those days, so for a time they had no telephone in their home. When Greta and Arthur moved to town, the crews building Route 93 still were making their way toward North Reading from Boston; E. Ethel Little still lived in her two houses at the corner of Park and Main Streets (a small house with central heating in the winter and a big house without central heating in the summer); and the future North Reading High School still was an empty field across the street from the little clapboard building that housed Ryer’s store (then called Molly’s). Classes were held in the Building on the Common in double sessions. Soon Greta was teaching in the evening school at Lynn Burdett College in Lynn, Massachusetts, which she did for several years, interrupted only by the birth of a third child in 1962. After this child started first grade, Greta worked again as a substitute teacher in the North Reading public schools for $15 a day. At about that time, she also signed up for an intensive training course offered by North Reading for tutors who were willing to work with learning-disabled children. After completing the course, Greta worked for many years with children with mild to moderate special needs, first at the Marea J. Murphy Elementary School and then at the L.D. Batchelder Elementary School. She retired in 1988.
Over the years, Greta enrolled in many adult education courses and had many hobbies as a result, including upholstery, oil painting, cake decorating, rosemaling, and the ins-and-outs of travel arranging (at a time when it was not possible to arrange trips online). She also volunteered for the Channel 2 Auction at least once. She was a charter member of the Messiah Lutheran Church in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, where she was active in youth education and charitable activities for decades. She was an avid gardener—growing both flowers and vegetables—and enjoyed cooking too, especially when it came to preparing “gourmet specials” of dishes from all over the world. She also liked reading and for a time met periodically in a book club of women who lived nearby. Later in life, she was a founding member of the North Reading Recycling Committee, attended town meetings, and was active in the North Reading Senior Center.
From her father she inherited a zest for travel—with her family, with her husband, and in later years sometimes by herself or with a friend. By her 80th birthday, Greta had visited all seven continents. In the late 1990s, while serving as caregiver to her husband, who was battling Parkinson’s disease, Greta started to write her memoirs and later joined a writing group in Lynnfield, Massachusetts, to which she presented draft chapters. Later, with the help of one of her sons, she began to edit them, a project on which she continued to work until a week before her death. She also helped her husband to start writing his memoirs, and, after his passing in 2000, continued to work on them in his stead, including by compiling extensive reminiscences about her husband’s life that she solicited from family, friends, and others. She also endowed a scholarship for North Reading High School students in his name.
Greta is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Elizabeth C. Robinson and Alvin A. Robinson III of Tewksbury, Massachusetts; a son and daughter-in-law, David P. Barresi and Julia (Johnson) Barresi of Traverse City, Michigan; another son, Paul A. Barresi, and Richard S. Carbonneau of Merrimac, Massachusetts; a granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Miranda C. (Robinson) Allen and Jason Allen of Methuen, Massachusetts; another granddaughter, Marielle C. Robinson, and Scott Butova of Wilson, Wyoming; two grandsons, Joshua D. Barresi and Nicholas A. Barresi of Traverse City, Michigan; and several granddogs and great-granddogs, whose company she always enjoyed (but could have done without the dog kisses).
Her funeral will be held on Friday, December 2, at 10 a.m. at the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading. Visitation will be held on Thursday, December 1 from 4 to 7 p.m. Interment will be in Riverside Cemetery in North Reading. www.croswellfuneralhome.com
In lieu of sending flowers, donations may be made to the Arthur A. Barresi Memorial Scholarship for North Reading High School students. Please make the checks payable to the “Town of North Reading” and be sure to note the “Arthur A. Barresi Memorial Scholarship” on the check’s memo line. The checks should be mailed to Treasurer, North Reading Town Hall, 235 North Street, North Reading, MA 01864.
