Barbara A. (Vinagro) Recchia, who came to Revere as a young wife and spent the rest of her life there raising four daughters, keeping a garden of hydrangeas and peonies and feeding anyone who came through the door, died on Monday, October 26, 2026. She was 79.
She was born in Cambridge on February 16, 1947, to the late Clarence “Larry” Vinagro and Rose “Honey” (Carvotta) Vinagro, one of three children, and grew up in Medford, where she graduated from Medford High School in 1965. On September 4, 1966, she married Sabino “Sammy” Recchia. The two honeymooned in Bermuda, lived first in East Boston and then settled in Revere. Their marriage lasted 45 years, until his death.
Her first career was in banking, at First National Bank and then at Bank of New England, where she worked as a financial coder. She later moved into health care, with stops at Lawrence Memorial Hospital, Winthrop Hospital and the Revere Counseling Center before joining Massachusetts General Hospital’s Revere practice, where she worked in Adult Medicine for many years until she retired.
Her family describes a woman who was particular about her appearance, from her hair and nails to her perfume and jewelry, and just as particular about her house, inside and out. She cooked and baked at speed, decorated for the holidays on a scale her grandchildren remember as an extravaganza, and traveled to Florida, Italy and Bermuda when she could. The Continental was her restaurant. To her grandchildren she was Nanny.
She leaves her daughters and their husbands: Diana and Lloyd Moffett Jr. of Danvers; Marisa and Arthur DiGiovanni of Sarasota, Florida, formerly of Marblehead; Mary Grace and Warren Brown Jr. of Bradford; and Jennifer and William Boyd of East Boston. Her grandchildren are Nicholas DiGiovanni and his fiancee, Madison Conway, of Tampa; Alexandra DiGiovanni and her fiance, Travis Wonders, of Sarasota; Madison DiGiovanni of Sarasota and her boyfriend, Daniel Capone, of Winthrop; Olivia DiGiovanni of Sarasota; and Dylan Brown of Bradford.
Services were private. A funeral Mass was celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 250 Revere St., Revere, and she was buried beside her husband at Woodlawn Cemetery in Everett. Donations in her memory may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105. Arrangements were by Vertuccio Smith and Vazza Beechwood Home for Funerals, 262 Beach St., Revere.
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 website. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.