Helen Wytas LaPorte
Member of the Third Order of Mary and Winthrop Catholic Woman’s Club
Helen A. (Wytas) LaPorte of Winthrop passed away at home on September 24. She was 78 years old.
Helen was a member of the Third Order of Mary and the Winthrop Catholic Woman’s Club. She was a 1983 graduate of Northeastern University. Prior to her retirement, she worked for the Herbert Stuart Cohen Law Group in Boston as a Paralegal. Before working for the Stuart Cohen Law Group, she was an insurance agent for her own Insurance Agency.
She was the beloved wife of the late James W. Laporte and the late Arthur J. Schultheiss. Born in Stafford Springs, CT, she was the daughter of the late William T. and Gladys A. (Malinosky) Wytas; devoted mother of Thomas W. Laporte and his wife, Eileen of San Jose, CA and Theresa A. McNelis and her husband, Dermot of Saugus and the adored grandmother of Olivia K. and Caroline J. McNelis.
Funeral arrangements were by the Maurice W. Kirby Funeral Home, Winthrop. Interment was in Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett. For guestbook, please visit: www.mauricekirbyfh.com.
Susan Tondreau Delisio
Of Winthrop
Susan ( Tondreau) Delisio of Winthrop passed away on September 26. She was 58 years old.
The devoted longtime companion of Artin Kouyoumdjian, she was the cherished daughter of Catherine Tondreau of Bellingham, MA and the late Robert Tondreau; loving mother of Frederick Delisio, Jr. of Dracut, Tanya Delisio of Saugus, and Branden Delisio of Lynnfield; dear sister of Dusty Tondreau of Arizona. Roberta Tassone of Gardner and the late Mary Ghelli.
Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Vazza’s “Beechwood†Funeral Home, Revere. Committal was private. For guest book: www.vazzafunerals.com.
Elaine Cleary
Lifelong Winthrop resident
Elaine S. Cleary of Overlook Drive, Winthrop passed away at home on September 27. She was 74 years old.
A lifelong resident of Winthrop, she was the beloved daughter of the late Dorothy (Kelly) and Alfred Silva; the devoted wife of William Cleary and the loving mother of Billy Cleary of Martha’s Vineyard, Kevin Cleary of Walpole, Brian Cleary, Kelly Hodgkins, Jackie Cefalo and Marianne Murray, all of Winthrop; dear sister of Geraldine Crombie of Winthrop and Barbara Craig of Revere; cherished grandmother of Christopher, Alicia, Stephen, James, Anthony, Scott, Danielle, Hunter, Amanda, Alex, Tyler and Gemma and the great grandmother of Leilanizi. She is also survived by many loving nieces and nephews.
Services were private. Memorial donations may be made to the The Jimmy Fund, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, 10 Brookline Place, W 6th floor, Brookline MA 02445 or go to www.dana-farber.org To sign the online guestbook go to www.caggianofuneralhome.com.
Lynda Knapp Prange
Spirited traveler, compassionate nurse,”rainbow mother”
Lynda Knapp Prange passed away peacefully at home in Point Shirley, Winthrop on September 14 after a 10 month battle with cancer. She was 67 years old.
Mrs. Prange moved to Winthrop from Northern California in 2014 to be closer to her daughter, new granddaughter and family and to begin her retirement years after a 35 year career as a nurse and before that, as a professional dancer and choreographer.
Although her time in Winthrop was short, her love for the town and for Boston was strong and she spent many a weekend before her diagnosis hiking the forests, hills and beaches of New England with her Meetup groups and drinking margaritas at Legal Seafood.
Born in Washington, DC to a US Coast Guard family, Lynda grew up living on the waterfront of cities from Seattle to New London to Juneau to Honolulu. It was no wonder that moving to her final apartment in Winthrop overlooking Boston Harbor felt like home to her.
After earning degrees from NYU and Ohio University, Lynda built a successful career as a dancer/choreographer before training to become a Registered Nurse, a career that would carry her through her child rearing years and all the way to retirement.
She married an acupuncturist, Bill Prange, in 1979 and raised her family in Sonoma County, California while also traveling frequently to Europe and Mexico, where she owned two properties in the Spanish colonial town of San Miguel de Allende. Lynda loved to travel, but she particularly loved Mexico and Mexican culture and had hoped to begin splitting her time between Winthrop and San Miguel.
Becoming a Nana in 2014 was a newfound joy that would also serve as medicine to her soul as she considered time with her granddaughter a crucial component of her treatment while fighting illness.
Lynda is survived by her sister, Carol Valentine, of Juneau, Alaska, her daughter Julia Wallerce of Winthrop, her son Kyle Prange of Santa Rosa, CA and her granddaughter, Maya Wallerce of Winthrop, as well as the entire Wallerce family.
A Celebration of Life will be held on Sunday, October 2 from 12 to 3 p.m. at La Siesta Restaurant in Winthrop and is open to all those who would like to honor Lynda and toast to her life. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Compassionate Care Hospice, cchnet.net, where Lynda worked as a nurse, or to Care Dimensions, www.caredimensions.org whose care was integral during her final days of life.