Marilyn Jean (Page) Cerullo departed this world on Monday, Jan. 1 after several years of declining health from brittle Type 2 Diabetes and related vascular dementia. She was born in Haverhill on June 25, 1931 to Georgiana Cormier Page and John Ernest Page. She was predeceased by her brother Robert John Page who also died from complications associated with diabetes.
A lifelong resident of Haverhill, Cerullo attended All Saints Church (formerly St Joseph’s Parish) along with the affiliated St Joseph’s grammar school. She attended Haverhill High School and before graduating, met the love of her life, Anthony (Tony) Cerullo, a handsome son of Italian immigrants, from Lawrence; they married when she was just 18.
Raised through the Great Depression, Cerullo’s strong work ethic was her foundation. She started working at Hale Hospital when she was 14 to contribute to her family’s income and buy her own clothes. After working at the local shoe shops, she considered it a lucky break when she and Tony both landed secure jobs at Bell Telephone, where she worked for 34 years before taking retirement with AT&T. Even after that, Cerullo continued to work part-time, offering cleaning services to private customers and small local businesses. Her favorite among these was with the Page Insurance Company on Merrimack Street, where she cleaned the office on Friday evenings after hours.
Cerullo’s greatest pleasure was shopping for clothes for herself, her husband and her grandchildren Luke and Page. She took pride in coordinating “outfits” that people would notice and compliment. She was a homebody and enjoyed decorating her home and maintaining her small garden, most recently at her Northwoods home.
Although she would’ve preferred to spend her final years in Haverhill, Cerullo decided to relocate to an Assisted Living Facility in Frederick, Md., in July 2014 when her health was noticeably failing and she wanted to be closer to her daughter Deborah. She leaves her daughter, son-in-law Robert Kannor and grandson Luke Cerullo Kannor, all of Frederick Md. and her granddaughter Page Cerullo Kannor, of Moab Utah.
There will be a memorial service at her place of residence in Maryland. In the spring, her remains will be buried at her family gravesite in southern New Hampshire. The family expresses gratitude to the staff of Carroll Hospice for easing Cerullo’s passing.