Anna M. (Giansiracusa) Withey of Sharon, formerly of Burlington, who grew up in Saugus, died on Monday, October 26, 2026 with her daughter at her side. She was 83.
She was born in Revere, one of three children of Emanuel and Carmela (Nicknello) Giansiracusa, and raised in Saugus, where she graduated from Saugus High School in 1960. She had hoped to go on to college but stayed home instead to help her mother care for her grandfather and raise her younger brother and sister, and worked alongside her father in his Chinese restaurant and liquor store. She later spent a long career with the Internal Revenue Service.
She met Mathew Withey, a young Navy sailor, on a Green Line platform. They courted by letter while he served, married when he came home and settled a few houses from her parents in Saugus before raising their family in Burlington. He died in June. Her family remembers a woman who talked to strangers until they were friends and who found her pleasures in museums, gardens and conversation.
She leaves her children, Maria Ikonitskiy and her husband Roman of Stoughton, Jennifer Knoll and her husband Alex of Fullerton, Calif., and Jackman “Jack” Withey of Duncan, Okla.; a grandson, Jason Ikonitskiy; her sister, Theresa Corsino and her husband Paul of Danvers; her brother, Paul Giansiracusa and his wife Cindy of Saugus; and several nieces and nephews.
Visiting hours are Sunday, November 1 from 2 to 5 p.m. at the Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home, 43 Winn Street, Burlington. The funeral leaves the funeral home Monday, November 2 at 9 a.m. for a 10 a.m. Mass at St. Malachy’s Church, 99 Bedford Street, Burlington, with burial at Puritan Lawn Cemetery, Peabody. The family suggests donations to the Michael J. Fox Foundation.
Compiled from information published by Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home. Photograph courtesy of the family via Edward V. Sullivan Funeral Home. 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.
