Patrick F. “Rick” Petrone Jr. of Everett, who taught physical education in Saugus for 43 years and was named to the first class of the Boston University Baseball Hall of Fame, died October 28. He was 83.
He grew up in Medford, graduated from Medford High School in 1961 and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at Boston University, where he played first base for the Terriers. He served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard from 1965 to 1968.
At Belmonte Junior High School in Saugus, students knew him as “Mr. P.” He taught gym and later information technology and coached football and baseball, and he was also varsity coach of the Saugus High School football, hockey and baseball teams. BU inducted him into its baseball Hall of Fame in 2008. He held BU hockey season tickets and belonged to the Friends of BU Hockey for more than 40 years, and for years he worked the pro shop and drove the Zamboni at HockeyTown USA in Saugus.
In Everett he shared a home with his parents and his sister’s family, and his nieces and nephews called him “Uncle Ricky.” He liked boating, coin and stamp collecting, a good game, a good meal and a new car, and a long line of dogs, the latest named Teddy.
He leaves his longtime partner, Judy Masucci of Winthrop; his nieces Joanne Crafts of Everett and Kim Dell Isola of Lynnfield and his nephew Jay Darling of Peabody, with their spouses; and seven great-nieces and great-nephews. His parents, Josephine and Patrick F. Petrone Sr., and his sister and brother-in-law, Barbara and Jack Darling, died before him.
Visiting hours are Tuesday, November 3, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Vertuccio Smith & Vazza Beechwood Home for Funerals, 262 Beach St., Revere, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 250 Revere St., Revere. Burial will be at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett. The family asks that memorial gifts go to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.
Compiled from information published by Vertuccio Smith & Vazza Beechwood Home for Funerals, 262 Beach Street, Revere. Photograph courtesy of the family via Vertuccio Smith & Vazza. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.