Nancy M. Cerniglia

Nancy M. (Brady) Cerniglia, 83 years young, from Lynnfield, MA, died peacefully surrounded by her loving family on February 14th after a long battle with cancer.

She was the beloved wife to Joseph A Cerniglia and devoted mother to Joseph A Cerniglia III of Uncasville, CT, and Dawn M Delaney, Carlyn A Beccia, and Jamie E Cerniglia, all from Lynnfield, MA.  She was the loving Gramma of Kayla Farias, Kyle Delaney, Devin Delaney, Ava Delaney, Charlotte Beccia and Johnny Beccia.

Nancy was born in Salem, MA on May 7, 1941 to Ella Brady and James Brady of Melrose, MA.  After Nancy graduated from Melrose High School in 1957, she studied Education at Mount Saint Mary’s College in New Hampshire.  Upon graduation, she started her first teaching job at Pine Glenn School in Burlington, teaching the 1st grade.

In 1964, she met her sweet soul mate, Joseph A Cerniglia, from Greenwood, MS.  Joe and Nancy married on July 9, 1966 and from 1967-1977, the couple had 4 children- Joseph, Dawn Marie, Carlyn Ann, and Jamie Elizabeth.

After her children were grown and established, Nancy started her own Real Estate firm, Quality Homes Real Estate.  She loved scrolling through multiple listings and going to see houses that she could potentially sell to her loyal customer base.  It was through Nancy’s eyes that Nancy and Joe built a real estate portfolio that would eventually serve as their retirement and second family-owned business.  Their love for real estate was a seven day, a week job but the two loved this hobby and loved working together.  Nancy would spot the opportunities, and Joe, an electrical engineer, would scrutinize the property for pitfalls.

Life in the Cerniglia family was not all work.  Nancy will be best remembered for her devotion to her family.  As a devoted wife and mother of 4 children, Nancy thrived for summers at Cape Cod, her Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, throwing birthday parties, holidays, or any opportunity to bring her family together and was a professional bargain shopper.   As an exceptional homemaker and cook, Nancy loved growing her own food and cooking with husband, Joe.  Together, they enjoyed their domestic responsibilities and loved preparing family meals on a daily.  Take- out food was non-existent except for the Friday night  “Fenway pizza.”  

Lastly, and most importantly, Nancy’s devotion to her faith and God was profound.  Nancy was a steward of her faith and enjoyed teaching Religion to her grandchildren and others.  She was a woman who practiced what she preached and found solstice in her relationship with God.  It was through her strong faith that Nancy was able to conquer cancer four times, and in her final days, her mantra was, “Jesus, I trust in you.”

Visitation for relatives and friends will be held at McDonald Funeral Home, 19 Yale Ave., Wakefield on Sunday on February 18th from 1-4 pm. Her Funeral Mass will be celebrated at Saint Maria Goretti Church, 112 Chestnut St., Lynnfield on Monday February 19th at 11:30 AM. 

In lieu of flowers, please donate to The Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research: https://lustgarten.org/?form=give