Eleanor Mazzone
November 21, 1929 — April 25, 2010
Eleanor Mazzone
Former High School Tennis Coach of the Year Eleanor S. (Ellie) Mazzone, 80, the widow of US District Court Judge A. David Mazzone, died Sunday at Spaulding Hospital Cambridge.
In ten seasons as WHS girls' tennis coach from 1971 through 1980 her teams compiled a 99-44 record, featured by an unbeaten Middlesex League championship in 1978, the year the team reached the state quarterfinals. Born Nov. 21, 1929, in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Andrew W. and Eleanor (Clark) Stewart, her tennis career got off on the wrong foot as she was forced by her parents to learn to play tennis, something she did not want to do.
The Mazzones moved to Wakefield in 1960. Last year she moved to Newbury Court, an independent living community in Concord, MA. She came East to study, graduating from Wellesley College in 1950, the same year her future husband graduated from Harvard, where he was a football player; he eventually became a lawyer after attending law school at DePaul University. David was named to the State Superior Court in 1975 at age 47 and, less than three years later, to the US District Court.
The tennis came back into her life when the two decided to play for the exercise. Their children were allowed to choose their own sports, Cary becoming a top flight swimmer.
After a tumultuous time in the school system in 1970 when the firing of the school superintendent led to a great rift in the town, several top teachers left that summer and joined the Lynnfield school system. One, Noni Randolph, was also the girls' tennis coach. In 1971 no one in the school system was willing to coach the girls but Margaret "Meg" Mazzone, a team member and the eldest of the seven Mazzone children, volunteered her mother's services. Ellie then took over, and began building a superb team. In her first year she became known as "the milk and cookies" coach (actually she provided oranges for the girls, not realizing the athletic department would have reimbursed her for the cost).
The coaching was supposed to be temporary until a replacement could be found but Ellie coached for a full decade from 1971 through 1980. When she took over, she did not want to be paid but WHS insisted she take the salary; as she said "If they're going to pay me, I better do a respectable job."
In 1971 the girls had to be shuttled between three pairs of courts at Moulton, Veterans and Mapleway. The first season finished 4-6 in 1971, the only losing season, followed by 9-6 in 1972, 5-5 in 1973, 6-4 in 1974, 9-6 in 1975, 9-4 in 1976, 16-5 in 1977, 19-1 (16-0 regular season and 13-0 Middlesex League) in 1978, 11-3 in 1979 and 11-4 in 1980. When she was named both Globe and Herald-American All Scholastic Girls' Tennis Team Coach of the Year in May, 1978, Ellie indicated that she stressed the goals of sportsmanship and self-control along with team pride and a serious commitment to the sport, adding "my goal is not to win at any cost because there are so many other ways of winning besides placing first."
After she retired as WHS tennis coach she worked at the Harvard Law School Registrar's Office, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, and the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council. After retiring from those positions, she volunteered for ten years at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Before her husband became a judge she hosted a coffee hour for Helen O'Donnell, the wife of gubernatorial candidate Kenneth O'Donnell, in 1966 and headed the Wakefield McGovern Committee in the 1972 presidential campaign.
She is survived by her seven children, daughter Meg (Teri Wildt) of Nashville, TN; son Andrew (Annette Duclos) of Cambridge; son John (Emi) of Belmont; daughter Jan (J. J. Laukaitis) of Williston, VT; daughter Marty of Boston; son Bob (Kim Kiner) of Darien, CT; and daughter Cary (Glenn Schurter) of Wakefield. She is also survived by her ten grandchildren, Ellen and Louise Mazzone, Tessa Mazzone, Andrew Mazzone, Ellie and John Laukaitis, Sammee and Kasey Mazzone, and Henry and David Schurter, and by numerous nieces, nephews and friends.
A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church, 8 Lafayette St., Wakefield on Saturday at 11 a.m. Relatives and friends may call at the McDonald Funeral Home, 19 Yale Ave., Wakefield on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday morning at the First Baptist Church from 10 to 11 a.m. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to the A. David and Eleanor S. Mazzone Scholarship Fund, c/o Wakefield CSF, P.O. Box 321, Wakefield, MA 01880.
Read Eleanor Mazzone's Obituary and Guestbook on www.mcdonaldfs.com.
In ten seasons as WHS girls' tennis coach from 1971 through 1980 her teams compiled a 99-44 record, featured by an unbeaten Middlesex League championship in 1978, the year the team reached the state quarterfinals. Born Nov. 21, 1929, in Pasadena, California, the daughter of Andrew W. and Eleanor (Clark) Stewart, her tennis career got off on the wrong foot as she was forced by her parents to learn to play tennis, something she did not want to do.
The Mazzones moved to Wakefield in 1960. Last year she moved to Newbury Court, an independent living community in Concord, MA. She came East to study, graduating from Wellesley College in 1950, the same year her future husband graduated from Harvard, where he was a football player; he eventually became a lawyer after attending law school at DePaul University. David was named to the State Superior Court in 1975 at age 47 and, less than three years later, to the US District Court.
The tennis came back into her life when the two decided to play for the exercise. Their children were allowed to choose their own sports, Cary becoming a top flight swimmer.
After a tumultuous time in the school system in 1970 when the firing of the school superintendent led to a great rift in the town, several top teachers left that summer and joined the Lynnfield school system. One, Noni Randolph, was also the girls' tennis coach. In 1971 no one in the school system was willing to coach the girls but Margaret "Meg" Mazzone, a team member and the eldest of the seven Mazzone children, volunteered her mother's services. Ellie then took over, and began building a superb team. In her first year she became known as "the milk and cookies" coach (actually she provided oranges for the girls, not realizing the athletic department would have reimbursed her for the cost).
The coaching was supposed to be temporary until a replacement could be found but Ellie coached for a full decade from 1971 through 1980. When she took over, she did not want to be paid but WHS insisted she take the salary; as she said "If they're going to pay me, I better do a respectable job."
In 1971 the girls had to be shuttled between three pairs of courts at Moulton, Veterans and Mapleway. The first season finished 4-6 in 1971, the only losing season, followed by 9-6 in 1972, 5-5 in 1973, 6-4 in 1974, 9-6 in 1975, 9-4 in 1976, 16-5 in 1977, 19-1 (16-0 regular season and 13-0 Middlesex League) in 1978, 11-3 in 1979 and 11-4 in 1980. When she was named both Globe and Herald-American All Scholastic Girls' Tennis Team Coach of the Year in May, 1978, Ellie indicated that she stressed the goals of sportsmanship and self-control along with team pride and a serious commitment to the sport, adding "my goal is not to win at any cost because there are so many other ways of winning besides placing first."
After she retired as WHS tennis coach she worked at the Harvard Law School Registrar's Office, the Massachusetts Department of Youth Services, and the Massachusetts Judicial Nominating Council. After retiring from those positions, she volunteered for ten years at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Before her husband became a judge she hosted a coffee hour for Helen O'Donnell, the wife of gubernatorial candidate Kenneth O'Donnell, in 1966 and headed the Wakefield McGovern Committee in the 1972 presidential campaign.
She is survived by her seven children, daughter Meg (Teri Wildt) of Nashville, TN; son Andrew (Annette Duclos) of Cambridge; son John (Emi) of Belmont; daughter Jan (J. J. Laukaitis) of Williston, VT; daughter Marty of Boston; son Bob (Kim Kiner) of Darien, CT; and daughter Cary (Glenn Schurter) of Wakefield. She is also survived by her ten grandchildren, Ellen and Louise Mazzone, Tessa Mazzone, Andrew Mazzone, Ellie and John Laukaitis, Sammee and Kasey Mazzone, and Henry and David Schurter, and by numerous nieces, nephews and friends.
A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church, 8 Lafayette St., Wakefield on Saturday at 11 a.m. Relatives and friends may call at the McDonald Funeral Home, 19 Yale Ave., Wakefield on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. and Saturday morning at the First Baptist Church from 10 to 11 a.m. Interment will be private. Memorial contributions may be made to the A. David and Eleanor S. Mazzone Scholarship Fund, c/o Wakefield CSF, P.O. Box 321, Wakefield, MA 01880.
Read Eleanor Mazzone's Obituary and Guestbook on www.mcdonaldfs.com.
Visitation
McDonald Funeral Home
19 Yale Ave.
Wakefield
,
MA
US
01880
Friday, April 30, 2010, 4:00 PM - 8:00 PM
Service
First Baptist Church
8 Lafayette Street
Wakefield
,
MA
US
01880
Saturday, May 1, 2010, 11:00 AM
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