Obituary of Vitalina T. "Tillie" Silva

Tillie (Vasconcellos) Silva, 85, beloved wife of Walter J. Silva, died unexpectedly at the Salem Hospital on Monday morning. Born in New Bedford, Mrs. Silva was the daughter of the late Henry and Virginia (Gill) Vasconcellos. She lived in California in her youth and attended schools there. She moved to Peabody in 1930 and lived here for the last 74 years. She worked for Sylvania for a short time, then settled into being a homemaker at home with her family. After raising her family, Mrs. Silva was employed for 16 years as a Home Health Care Aide at Intercity Health Care until her retirement. Mrs. Silva was a gifted cook. She enjoyed gardening, and earned an award from the Peabody Garden Club as one of the city’ s top gardens in recent years. She also loved music, traveling to Portugal, Switzerland, and Germany, was an accomplished seamstress and going to the beach in Hampton, NH or Cape Cod. She is survived by her husband, Walter J. Silva of Peabody, with whom she shared 64 years of marriage; a son and daughter-in-law, Walter J. & Joyce Silva, Jr., of Peabody; two daughters and sons-in-law, Carol & Herbert Collibee of Peabody and Linda & Bob De Sola of Ormand Beach, FL; five grandchildren, David Collibee, Michael Collibee, Donna Sawyer, Matthew Silva and Leeanne Silva; four great-grandchildren; one sister, Mary Guy of Salem, and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her sister, Florence Conway and brother Albert Silva. Her funeral will be held on Thursday at 9 a.m. from the Conway, Cahill-Brodeur Funeral Home,at the 20 Church St. location, Peabody, followed by a Funeral Mass at 10 a.m. in St. Thomas the Apostle Church, Peabody, to which relatives and friends are kindly invited. A visitation will be held on Wednesday from 5 to 8 P.M. Burial will be in St. Mary’ s Cemetery, Salem. Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, 495 Old Connecticut Path, Suite 220, Framingham, MA 01701