Violet Theresa DiNunzio SagollaPosted: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 2:18 pm
Violet Theresa DiNunzio Sagolla died of natural causes at the age of 86, on Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014, at St. Mary Hospital in Langhorne. A former science teacher in the Bristol Township school district and the executive director of the Neshaminy Adult School, Violet lived in Penndel for 62 years.
Born in Rockville Center, on New York's Long Island, Sept. 30, 1928, she was raised in the nearby town of Lawrence. The daughter of Dominick DiNunzio, born in Bristol, and Ebba Rosen DiNunzio, of Goteborg, Sweden, as a youth Violet traveled all over the country with her parents; attending school in Bristol (Pennsylvania), Elmira (New York), Baltimore (Maryland), Carson City (Nevada), and Seattle (Washington), where she graduated from Ballard High School in 1947. She went on to earn both a Bachelor's Degree in Education (in 1952) and a Master's Degree in Education (in 1960) from Temple University, which she attended on a National Science Foundation Award. She was a member of the Delta Sigma Epsilon sorority.
In 1952, she married Joseph Francis Sagolla, who died in 2007. During the 1950's she taught science at Benjamin Franklin Junior High School and at Delhass High School, where she served as faculty advisor to the school's first graduating class. One of Violet's fondest memories was of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt "in the girl's room" on the day the former First Lady attended the dedication ceremony of the district's new middle school named in honor of the late U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
In the 1960s, Violet worked as a substitute teacher in the Bensalem school district. She then began teaching English in the GED program of the Neshaminy Adult School, for which she ultimately served as executive director for several decades. In its heyday, the Neshaminy Adult School offered more than 250 different courses annually, bringing educational enrichment experiences to a large segment of the population of Lower Bucks County; as well as to students from Philadelphia and New Jersey.
A Middletown Township Democratic Committeewoman for more than 30 years, and later a Judge of Elections, Violet built an exemplary record of public service to her local community. Recreational golfers, she and her husband played at the Langhorne Country Club with the "Fore-Tee-Niners" and were members of the Torresdale-Frankford Country Club, where Violet was also a avid bridge player. Her other hobbies included oil painting, ceramics, sewing, and reading.
She is survived by two daughters, Dr. Lisa Jo Sagolla of New York City and Penndel, and Cynthia McVey of Lancaster, Pa.; as well as two grandchildren, Casey and Bridget Sagolla-Slamp.
Relatives and friends may attend her viewing from 10 to 11 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 20, at the Galzerano Funeral Home, 3500 Bristol Oxford Valley Road in Levittown, where a funeral service will begin at 11 a.m. Interment will follow in Resurrection Cemetery. Galzerano Funeral Home
Bristol