Friends,

As you know my return to Boston from Washington was focused on my Mom. I have kept you updated over the last year and a half through these missives and so many of you have been gracious in keeping her in your prayers and thoughts. She passed from this life last week and, as the attached notice indicates, she left peacefully to join my Dad who passed 41 years ago. They have a lot to catch up on!
 

As indicated below, hers is a story of a generation that prioritized faith and family. Shaped in the crucible of the Great Depression and World War II, they were practical and pragmatic. Salt of the earth. 
 

Thank you for all your encouragement and support over the past 18 months. That's meant a lot to me.
 

Philip

RACHEL SPERA MANGANO

Rachel Spera Mangano, 92, mother and woman of faith.

Rachel Mangano quietly passed from this life to the next on January 27 at her home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. 

Over the final week of life, her children gathered at her bedside along with friends and clergy to be with her as she passed to the tender mercies of her Creator and Savior.   

Rachel was born on April 16, 1918 in Cambridge and grew into her teenage years during the Great Depression. Growing up, Rachel was blessed with loving and hard-working parents who created a nurturing and creative environment for their four girls and three boys. The economic difficulties only deepened their togetherness, their sense of "all for one", and shaped their later world view of service, saving, and sacrifice. And that perspective sensitized in Rachel an enduring intolerance for injustice.

She took those values into her marriage to her girlhood sweetheart, Philip Mangano. Together in Medford, then in Belmont, with their three children, they forged a family committed to discipline, humor, and education. Together they instilled in their children an ethic of hard work and the promise of a better life.

When her beloved husband, Philip, passed prematurely from this life, when she was just 50 years old, Rachel committed herself to ensuring that their lifelong commitment to higher education for their children would be fulfilled. She had been the first to graduate high school in her family. Now she would offer the opportunity for that achievement to be exceeded by her children.

She worked two jobs, 34 years at the Middlesex County Courthouse, and simultaneously as a seamstress with friends, to provide the foundation for the realization of that dream. Her three children would go on to credit the hard work, sacrifice, and discipline of their mother in all of their pursuits. She, in turn, would revel proudly in their every accomplishment.

Rachel's commitment to family was in tandem with her belief in God. Her life of faith was nourished at St. Paul Evangelical Church in Lexington. From her faith Rachel was inspired to a life of service to family and the poorest. Her faithful private giving, focused on the most disadvantaged, ranged from her church to ministry organizations across the world. Her mailbox filled with appeals; her checkbook, with responses. Hospitality in those distant places was matched by graciousness to anyone who entered her home. Multi-course meals were the norm and repetitive "second helpings" were not to be resisted. Part of that hospitality for the visitor was exposure to a sense of humor that was sometimes wry, sometimes sarcastic, but always engaging.

Rachel readily acknowledged that the blessings of this life come from above, from the source of all goodness. Her well-worn Bibles bear testimony to her lifelong commitment in recognizing God's presence in every circumstance.

She left this world listening to Scripture and hymns and embracing the Our Father in heart and soul. She will be missed by all who knew her and welcomed by all who awaited her.

Rachel Spera Mangano was the beloved wife of the late Philip Mangano and the loving and proud mother of Joseph A. Mangano of Arlington, VA, Philip Francesco Mangano of Eastham, MA, and Gracia Catherine Martore, wife to Joseph Martore, of Great Falls, VA, and Osterville, MA.

Rachel adored her parents Angelo and Caterina (Pizza) Spera. She was the dear sister of Carmella Manganello of Lexington, MA, Pasquale Spera of Cambridge, MA, Esther Ruth Franchitto of Arlington, MA, and the late Alphonse Spera, John Spera, and Pamela Alberto. She was the devoted grandmother of Philip W. and Paul J. Mangano, and Joseph and Katie Martore. She held tender affection for her great-grandchildren, Philip, Michelle, and Michael. She was the dear aunt of many nieces and nephews and a cherished cousin.

Visitation for Rachel Mangano will be held at the Douglass Funeral Home, 51 Worthen Road, Lexington, Friday, February 4 from 3-5 p.m. and 7-9 p.m. Her funeral service will be held on Saturday, February 5 at 2 p.m. at the Story Chapel in Mount Auburn Cemetery and followed by interment there (580 Mount Auburn Street, Cambridge, MA).
 

Donations in Rachel's memory may be sent to the American Round Table to Abolish Homelessness, Five Park Street, Boston, MA 02108.
 

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