Obituaries 03-02-2017

Barbara Brown Swankowski

Family was her love

Barbara A. (Gigliotti) Brown Swankowski passed away on February 25 after a short period of declining health.  She has been receiving supportive care as a resident at Eastpointe Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Chelsea for the past four years.  She was 77 years old.

 Born and raised in Newton, she was the beloved daughter of the late Frank P. and Frances (Caruso) Gigliotti. Barbara attended Newton public schools and graduated from Newton High School.  She married  Chelsea native Henry J. “Harry” Brown. They first settled in Chelsea before moving to Revere to raise their family of one daughter and two sons.

Barbara was widowed in her early thirties with the sudden passing of her beloved husband, Harry.  She worked outside of her home with a large transportation company as a school bus driver working mostly on the Northshore driving various students for public and private schools.  Barbara remarried for a time to George R. Swankowski.  She relocated to Davenport, Florida in the late eighties to care for her aging parents.  While in Florida she also worked in nursing facilities and a motor freight company and lastly as a Florida state toll collector.  She returned to Chelsea 12 years ago and resided in the Admirals Tower Apartments for several years before leaving for Eastpointe.

In her life time her love was family, her grandson and home, quietly enjoying reading or watching the Bruins and Red Sox games on television.

 In addition to her parents and husband, Harry, Barbara was also preceded in death by two brothers; Thomas and Frank Gigliotti, and her second husband, George R. Swankowski. She is survived by her loving and devoted children; Robin M. Surette and her husband, Roger J. of Manchester, NH, Robert H. Brown of New Hampshire and Michael F. Brown and his wife, Jessie E. of Cumberland RI.  She was the cherished grandmother of Henry R. Brown, at home in Cumberland and Roger and France Surette, and Christine and Junior Allain, great-grandmother to MarcAlexandre and Fredrick Surette, Manon, Mylene, Maika and Monette Allain, all of Canada. She is also the dear sister of Paul Gigliotti and his wife, Yvonne of Bridgewater.

Visiting Hours will be held at the Frank A. Welsh & Sons Funeral Home, 718 Broadway, Chelsea today, Thursday, March 2 from 6 to 8 p.m.. Relatives and friends are most kindly invited to attend. Her Funeral will be held from the Welsh Funeral Home on Friday at 9:30 a.m. followed by a Funeral Mass of Christian Burial at the Immaculate Conception Church 133 Beach St., Revere at 10:30 a.m. Services will conclude with Interment at Woodlawn Cemetery, Everett.

 

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