Maria Anna (Marie) Pavesi, or “Grandma” as all who knew her called her, died during a brief medical rehab at Sippican Nursing Home and Rehabilitation Center on Dec. 4. She was 93.

She was born at her parent’s home on Southern Boulevard in the Bronx on July 5, 1932 to Ursilia Licchiello (D’Agostino), a home maker, and Mario Licchiello, the neighborhood butcher and owner of his own shop. Growing up in the Bronx’s “Little Italy” with her sister, Innocenza, and brother, Franco, the family lived across the street from the Bronx Zoo. Some of her earliest and fondest memories were of hearing the lions roar each night as she went to sleep.

She spent her childhood safely tucked into the outskirts of the neighborhood drama. She’d share tales with grandchildren and great children about the nuns who ran a tight ship at school, the Mafia that her father refused to kowtow to, shoot-outs between police and criminals on her garage roof, and standing up tall (at 4’11”) to anyone who caused her “agita.”

In her early twenties, she met and married the love of her life, Louis “Louie” Mario Pavesi. Shortly after marrying they welcomed their only daughter Inez Montanile (Pavesi) on Jan. 12, 1956. Grandma and Louie raised their daughter in Northvale/Norwood, New Jersey, a small suburb outside of New York City. Grandma often reminisced about her time in New Jersey raising her daughter, spending time with her “Wednesday Girls” and traveling both domestically and abroad with Louie’s employer, Hydrotherm.

Regular visits to Italy with Louie and Inez, where they spent time with family in the old country, were the most cherished. Traveling by streamliner, they’d often bring home a quality European car in their luggage. The family’s annual trips to Martha’s Vineyard were also a bright spot, leading them to a place they would later call home.

Relocating in 1997, the couple joined their  daughter’s family to establish the perfect multi-generational home coveted within their Italian roots. Louie and Marie would spend the rest of their lives on Martha’s Vineyard, together as four generations.

For a tiny woman, Grandma had a giant personality. She was forthright with her opinions and her “tough-guy” Bronx personality right up to the end.

She loved her family, both past and present, and loved telling the stories of her long life. Days before she passed she said, “I’m not ready to go; I’m having too much fun with my great-grandchildren. I don’t want to miss it.” She was loved deeply and missed more than she’ll ever know.

Marie was predeceased by her parents, Mario and Ursilia and brother, Franco; her husband, Louis and her daughter, Inez (Montanile). She is survived by her sister, Innocenza; son-in-law Matthew C. Montanile; grandchildren and their spouses: Matthew and Nina (Montanile), Michael and Jenna (Montanile), Kimberly and Nemo (Rajkovic); and great-grandchildren: Oliver and Leonardo (Montanile) and Milena (Rajkovic).

Services will be on Friday Dec. 12. Visitation at Chapman Funeral home in Oak Bluffs from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m., followed by an 11 a.m. Mass at St. Augustine’s in Tisbury. Burial to follow at Oak Grove Cemetery in Tisbury.