Josephine (Jo) Rose Dicamillo

Josephine (Jo) Rose DiCamillo, age 93, of West Newbury, MA, passed away peacefully at her home on April 20, 2024 surrounded by her loving family and devoted cat Beau Beau. Josephine was born in Milan, Italy on January 12, 1931. After living through the bombings and Nazi occupation of Italy in World War II, Josephine went on to graduate from La Cattolica secondary school with honors. She continued to study teaching and foreign languages at University in Italy and in England.

After University, Josephine moved to Ivrea to work for Olivetti. At Olivetti she eventually became the executive assistant to the president of the company. Towards the end of her career at Olivetti, she met an engineer from the US (her future husband Raymond DiCamillo) who was in Ivrea to fix a problem with a new line of Olivetti typewriters. They fell in love and got married in December 1967. A few months later they returned to the US and settled in Bloomfield, CT to start their family. Josephine continued her career by working part time at Connecticut General (now Cigna) as a secretary. Josie, as she was known by her co-workers, rose through the ranks and became an essential member of the Connecticut General IT department and retired in 1996 as a systems analyst.

Beyond her professional achievements, Josephine loved sewing and cooking and excelled at both. At a young age, she learned to sew outfits for her parakeet. She went on to create clothing for her family, linens and home textiles, and numerous Halloween costumes for her children and grandchildren. Later, she helped create an adaptive line of clothing, and spent much of her time crocheting hundreds of colorful mobile phone holders. Despite not learning how to cook until her mid 20s, Josephine was a very talented chef. She enjoyed cooking Italian foods and grew her repertoire to include foods and desserts from around the world. Josephine was known for her ravioli, manicotti, gnocchi with pesto, pizza, cheesecake, carrot cake, and chiacchiere.

Josephine is predeceased by her husband Raymond and brother Angelo. She is survived by her son Stephen and wife Kim, daughter Joanne, grandchildren Daniel, Benjamin, and Mia, her sister-in-law Gloria, and eight nieces and nephews.

Calling hours will be held at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday, April 28, 2024, at the Elliott, Woodworth & Rogers Funeral Home, 35 Green St, Newburyport, MA 01950, followed by a service at the funeral home at noon. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the American Cancer Society or charity of your choosing, honoring Josephine’s legacy of love and creativity.