John R. Mannheim, passed away peacefully on December 23, 2022 in the presence of his beloved wife, Claire. He leaves his daughter Sidney and husband James, daughter Stacy and husband Ross, his brother Charles and wife Shirley, his brother Paul and wife Susan, as well as many nieces and nephews in our extended family.

John was a graduate of Amherst College and a fundraiser for the Class of 1953. He enjoyed the reunions and celebrations with many friends over the last 70 years. He also attended Andover Newton Seminary. John worked for the YMCA, taught at North Reading High School and negotiated teachers’ contracts for the Massachusetts Teachers Association.

From 1971 to 2001 John worked as a union negotiator for the Massachusetts Teachers Association. As an MTA advocate, John negotiated hundreds of teacher contracts and conducted organized campaigns to mobilize and activate teachers. He was a highly skilled negotiator who had the respect of both labor and management as a man with impeccable integrity. John was an inspirational and highly motivating force who played a major role in the growth of the teacher’s union movement in the northeast part of Massachusetts.

As a resident of Concord since 1976, John was a strong advocate for peace, justice and the environment. He was the first male member of the Concord Peace Vigil that began in 1991. Our banner read “We walk with those who suffer because of war”.

He was very active in the Cambridge branch of the Veterans for Peace and participated in all of their peace efforts beginning in 2003. John supported “grass roots actions for peace,” also based in Concord for many years.

He was an active member of CREW, “Citizens Research and Environmental Watch”. This local group challenged Nuclear Metals/Starmet to stop producing the depleted uranium penetrator that was used in all of the Gulf Wars and also used in Serbia. John helped CREW get the Starmet site declared a superfund site.

John so enjoyed his family and he always had humorous stories to tell his friends after the conclusion of the Concord Peace Vigil each Friday. He always had a smile on his face no matter how difficult the situation was for him. He loved the Cincinnati Reds and he also was a Boston Celtics fan.

His efforts and his energy will be missed by all of us.

John is a man who is easy for all of us to love.

A Celebration of John’s life will be held in the spring on April 29, 2023 at 10:00 AM at Holy Family Parish (formerly St. Bernard’s Church), 12 Monument Square, Concord, MA.  In lieu of flowers, donations in memory of John may be made to a charity of your choice. Burial will be private. Arrangements are under the direction of the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading. www.croswellfuneralhome.com

James B. Kane – 61, of North Reading and formerly of Reading, passed away unexpectedly at his home on Sunday, December 18, 2022.

Born in Boston, MA on January 10, 1961, he was the son of the late Richard B. and Mary Lou (Boardman) Kane. He attended Reading public schools and the Northeast Metropolitan Regional Vocational High School in Wakefield.

James was a highly skilled lifelong Diesel Mechanic and was most recently employed by Greyhound Bus.

He was hilarious and had an outgoing personality. He had a huge love for cars. He was thoughtful and a giver by nature. He was loved by anyone who knew him, especially his family. He was an amazing father and grandfather.

Jimmy was a keeper of memories, collector of music, cars, and antiques. He enjoyed hanging out with his kids and his grandkids.

Family members include his loving son, Richard Kane; daughters, Mandi Kane and Caitlyn Person; sisters, Mary Lou Kane and Grace Kane; and grandchild, Eleanor Louise Person.

Services will be private and a celebration of life will be held at a later date to be announced. Memorial donations may be made in his memory to the American Heart Association, P.O. Box 840692, Dallas, TX 75284-0692. www.heart.org  Arrangements are by the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading.  www.croswellfuneralhome.com

John J. Firriello – 80, of North Reading, formerly of Wakefield and New York, passed away on Thursday, December 15, 2022, at the Kaplan Family Hospice House in Danvers.

Born in New York, New York on March 18, 1942, he was the son of the late Sebastian and Mary (Scelzi) Firriello. John was a graduate of Westinghouse Vocational School in Brooklyn, New York. He worked as a Purchasing Manager and then later worked as a Constable and a Healthcare Worker for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

Family members include his loving wife Claire (Bauer) Firriello; his son Paul Firriello; his brother Michael Firriello, sisters Celeste Dew and Antoinette Muller and granddaughters Siena and Lyla Firriello.

John was a very giving, family oriented person. He always wanted and was willing to help them. He has been a resident of North Reading for the past 42 years. He has been a member of St. Michael Parish in North Andover, where he served as a Eucharistic Minister.

His Funeral Mass will be Celebrated on Wednesday, December 21 at 11:30 AM at St. Michael Parish, 196 Main Street, in North Andover. Everyone is to go directly to church. Visitation will be held on Tuesday, December 20 at the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading from 6:00 to 8:00 PM, interment will be in Riverside Cemetery in North Reading. Memorial donations may be made in his memory to the charity of one’s choice.

Florence A. (Duggan) Wilson – 99, of Onset, East Wareham and formerly of North Reading, passed away peacefully at her home on Thursday, December 8, 2022. She was the wife of the late Edward J. Wilson, Sr.

Born in Cambridge, MA on September 22, 1923.  She was the daughter of the late Edward “Eddie” and Alice (Breton) Duggan. She was a graduate of the L.D. Batchelder School in North Reading and Reading Memorial High School. She spent her childhood growing up on Burroughs Road and she later lived 65 years on LeClair Street in North Reading. She has spent the last six years living in Onset, East Wareham with her daughter Kathy and her husband Walter Quigg.

Before having her children, Florence worked for Liberty Mutual and was transitioned from Boston to Andover, she later worked part time in Kline’s Department Store in Wakefield, she was a volunteer Receptionist at the North Reading Town Hall and an Avon Representative salesperson for over twenty years.

Florence was very special to her family. Her husband and father had built the house in North Reading where her family grew up. At age 40 her husband died suddenly and left her with five children to raise. Somehow, she managed to keep her children all together, she fed, clothed, and guided them, nurtured and kept a roof over their heads. The house was always clean and well maintained, not an easy task with five kids running around and limited funds.

She was an avid sports fan and encouraged them to participate in after school athletics. The Red Sox and Celtics were her favorites. She strongly believed in education both religious and academic. They attended church and celebrated Easter and Christmas as a family. When it came time for college she found ways to get funding so they could attend, even though it seemed impossible at the time.

Florence loved gardening, dancing, square dancing and sewing. She was instrumental in establishing the “Burroughs Road Playground”, as a member of the Recreation Committee and helped to form the morning activity and sports program at the playground. She was one of the first Girl Scout Leaders for the Martin’s Pond side of town. As a young senior citizen, she was an advocate in keeping the tax rate for seniors in town lower. Florence was proud to have been a North Reading taxpayer that built elementary schools and the first junior high school and high school in North Reading. She was also a member of St. Mary’s Church in Onset and a former member of St. Theresa’s Church in North Reading, where she was a member of the Sodality and she taught CCD.

She lived a long life and we are blessed to have shared it with her as our mother, grandmother, great grandmother and great great grandmother. She will always be in our hearts and now we say, goodbye mom and thank you for being special.

Family members include her loving sons, Robert, Edward, Jr. and Dennis Wilson; daughters, Kathleen Quigg and Patricia Seluk; 11 grandchildren, Laura Carrillo, Michelle Hopping, Christine Wainwright, Walter E. Quigg, Daniel, Matthew, Michael and Katherine Seluk, Mary O’Donnell, Kara LeVan and Edward Wilson, III; 22 great grandchildren and one great great grandchild; she was the sister of the late Edward Duggan, Jr. and Alfred Duggan of North Reading and Richard Duggan of North Reading and Wilmington.

Visitation will be held on Thursday, December 15 from 9:00 to 10:30 AM at the Croswell Funeral Home, 19 Bow Street, North Reading, followed by an 11:00 AM Funeral Mass at St. Theresa’s Church, 63 Winter Street, North Reading.  Interment will be in Riverside Cemetery in North Reading. Memorial donations may be made in her memory to the charity of one’s choice. www.croswellfuneralhome.com

Edith F. “Edie” (Muller) Graham – 93, of North Reading and formerly of Dorchester, passed away peacefully on Thursday, December 1, 2022 at Care One of Wilmington. Born in Boston, MA on January 10, 1929. She was the daughter of the late Leo J. and Rose E. (Saluto) Muller.

Edie spent her childhood growing up in Dorchester, MA. She was a child of the great depression, but her parents Rose and Leo Muller did their best to provide a comfortable home and instilled a strong sense of family in her throughout her younger years. Aunts, uncles and cousins lived in nearby neighborhoods while she was growing up and were a part of her everyday life. When family members came into difficult times, they often came to stay with Edie’s family. Her parents were hard working people and Edie inherited their diligence for working hard and doing the job right. Edie passed these principles on to her four daughters letting them know that with hard work and education you could achieve anything you wanted in life and become an independent person.

Edie attended Boston Public neighborhood schools and graduated from Girls High School in Boston in 1946. She then attended Burdett College School of Business and Shorthand. She found work at a local company called Boston Gas as an audit clerk where she met her future husband Henry (Hap) Graham.

Edie lived on Willard Road in North Reading for the last 67 years, but her connection to the town began when she was a young girl. She spent many summer days with family at her maternal grandfather’s summer camp on Willard Road with her parents, brother Fred and sister Jean escaping the heat of the city in Boston. Her grandfather, Thomas Saluto owned the land, built the camp and spent summers there gardening and tending to the fruit trees and lilac bushes on the property. Edie’s parents built a small four room house on a section of the land and gifted it to Edie and Hap once they married in 1953. Hap and Edie moved from Mill Street in Dorchester into 5 Willard Road in 1954 when their first daughter was 6 months old. This became and still is the family home. As the family grew, so did the original four room house with several additions. When Edie’s sister Jean got married, Jean and husband Joe Gigante moved into a small home next door to Edie and Hap’s where the original summer camp was located. This is where the next generation of the family began their lifetime with aunts, uncles and cousins sharing many memories. Edie was involved in her girl’s lives growing up. Many summer days she and her sister Jean would pack up the picnic baskets and load the car up with chairs and blankets and head to Crane Beach in Ipswich, Ma. They would hit the road by 8 AM and hope that the green head flies were not biting on those days. She was a Girl Scout Leader, volunteered many hours at St. Theresa’s annual fairs and at the elementary schools her kids attended. She eventually got a job as a teacher aid at the E. Ethel Little School when her youngest daughter started school. Once her children where older, she went back to her original line of work doing bookkeeping at Interstate Electric Services in Burlington, MA. In her free time away from work Edie was still family oriented.

Every Sunday after going to church there were family dinners. On summer holiday weekends Edie and her sister Jean would throw big backyard cookouts with aunts, uncles and cousins from the Boston areas attending, making for fun times, good eating and many happy memories. Edie loved to sew and made many dresses for herself and 4 daughters throughout their childhood lives. For fun Edie and Hap would go to the dances on Saturday nights at the Knights of Columbus Hall with their friends.

When Edie retired, she went to work in the Town Hall with Town Clerk Barbara Stats doing senior hours to earn credit on her property taxes. She also worked the Town elections counting votes into the wee hours of the morning. As Edie aged and her girls moved out on their own, she continued to live those values of hard work and being independent. She enjoyed reading, working outside tending to her flower beds and the yard, always taking pride in maintaining her home. Edie’s five grandchildren loved her dearly and always knew that she would be present to witness their life milestones and celebrations with appreciation and support.

Family members include her loving daughters, Jeanne M. McHale and her husband John of South Yarmouth, Cheryl A. Condon and her late husband Michael of Methuen, Mary F. Graham and her husband John Delapa of Westwood and Paula R. Graham-Dwyer and her husband Chris of North Reading; her sister Jean M. Gigante of North Reading and 5 grandchildren, Gregory, Christopher, James, Emily and Agnes. She was the sister of the late Frederick L. Muller. She was also survived by several cousins, nieces and nephews.

Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend her Funeral Mass that will be Celebrated on Saturday, December 10 at Noon at St. Theresa’s Church, 63 Winter Street, North Reading. Visitation and burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation to MSA Coalition for research to find a cure at (www.multiplesystematrophy.org) in honor of her son-in-law John Delapa.