Maria J. (Romanelli) O’Callaghan of Revere died peacefully on November 5, 2026 after a short illness. She was 97.
Born in 1929, in the first year of the Depression, to Bernadina and Vincent Romanelli, she lived her whole life in Revere and graduated from Revere High School in 1948. Before her marriage she worked as a key punch operator at John Hancock Life Insurance Company. Once her children were grown she went back to work at Stone and Webster Engineering, where she took on what was then the new field of computer data entry.
She was married 60 years to John O’Callaghan, who died in 2012. In his retirement the two traveled widely, returning most happily to Hawaii and Italy and to wherever their daughter happened to be living. St. Anthony of Padua Parish ran through every chapter of her life: Sunday school, her wedding, her children’s baptisms, her daughter’s wedding and her husband’s funeral. In recent years she watched the daily Mass on television.
She spent her last years at The Residence at Melrose Station, where her family says she found a new and active social life, and they thank her friends and the staff there, along with Allcare Hospice, for their care during her final illness.
She leaves her daughter Marianne Toppen and her husband Ted of Revere, her son John O’Callaghan of Chantilly, Virginia, and nieces and a nephew. Her brother Lawrence Romanelli died before her.
Visiting hours are Thursday, November 12 from 9 to 10:30 a.m. at the Vertuccio Smith and Vazza Beechwood Home for Funerals, 262 Beach Street, Revere, followed by a funeral Mass at 11 a.m. at St. Anthony of Padua Church, 250 Revere Street, Revere. Burial will be at Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden. In place of flowers the family suggests a donation to a charity of your choice.
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.
