In a Provincetown Independent profile of Joe Pellegrino written by Amelia Roth-Dishy in honor of his 100th birthday, he reflected on his long life.
When it’s over, he said, “I’ll be reunited with my wife and my son spiritually,” a statement he quickly qualified by adding, “if you believe in a spiritual life, life thereafter, hereafter — whatever.” His wife of 66 years, Irene, died in 2008, and his son Tom died at 78 in May 2023.
“You think about things like that,” he said, and “you try to find an answer, but there is no answer.” The best part of turning 100, he said, “is being alive.”
Joseph A. Pellegrino died peacefully at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis on Nov. 19, 2023, surrounded by his family. He turned 100 on July 4.
Joe was born in Cambridge, the sixth of Francesco and Maria Pellegrino’s eight children. He said his parents spoke Italian with their first five children, but after they became American citizens they insisted on speaking only English with Joe and the two children who followed.
In the summer of 1938, Joe’s Cambridge neighbor Louis Morea took him to the Cape for a week’s vacation and introduced him to his cousin Irene, who lived in Wellfleet. “It was love at first sight,” Joe said. “Bam. She’s the girl for me.”
The couple married at the American Legion Hall in Wellfleet on Dec. 12, 1942. The following April, Joe enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 15th Air Corps as a supply man. He served in Naples, Italy, with some regrets for his lost opportunity to learn Italian when he was a boy, and he was in line to be deployed to Okinawa in 1945 when the atom bombs were dropped on Japan and the war ended.
After the war, Joe returned to Wellfleet, where he built his family home in 1947 at 10 Cove Road. There, he and Irene raised their four children, Thomas, Joseph, Norman, and Marie. He later built a house for each of his children, who all remained in Wellfleet. Joe found that fact “very gratifying,” Roth-Dishy wrote.
Joe lived a life committed to family and Wellfleet community life. “Joe was a home builder, carpenter, jack of all trades, Wellfleet selectman, committee member, member of the American Legion and the VFW, Little League baseball coach, Boy Scout troop leader, and he ran roller skating at the old American Legion Hall,” his son Norman said.
He would raise money for the American Legion every year by selling American flags before the Fourth of July parade. “The Legion honored Joe for 70 years of membership and service,” Norman said, and on June 20 of this year, Roth-Dishy wrote, “the Wellfleet Select Board voted unanimously to honor Joe Pellegrino, ‘an exemplary Volunteer, Resident and Human for the Town of Wellfleet.’ ” He was invited to serve as marshal for the 2023 Fourth of July parade, but he had to decline to attend his 100th birthday party.
His service as a Wellfleet selectman ran from 1967 to 1970. He had earlier served on the town’s zoning board of appeals. He enjoyed town service, he told Roth-Dishy, “but it took a lot of time away from my job, and my wife wasn’t happy.”
Joe lived a long life in retirement. “He enjoyed gardening, feeding the birds, and his pet rabbits,” Norman said.
“My worst problem is the squirrel,” Joe told Roth-Dishy. “I figure he’s God’s creature; he’s got to eat. But he raises hell with my bird seed. Eats it up in a hurry.”
Word searches and jigsaw puzzles filled up some of Joe’s time, and he was a lifelong Red Sox fan, win or lose. He also followed the Patriots, especially during their years of success when Tom Brady was quarterback. “When Tom Brady abandoned the Patriots for Tampa Bay,” Roth-Dishy wrote, Joe cried.
Joe is survived by his sons Joseph and Norman Pellegrino and daughter Marie Pellegrino, all of Wellfleet; grandchildren Kevin Pellegrino, Tommy Pellegrino, Tina Miller, and Jason Higgins of Wellfleet; great-grandchildren Kailey, Leila, Thomas, Ryder, Giuliana, Austin, and Jason Jr.; and many nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews.
Visiting hours will be from 4 to 6 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 15 at the Nickerson Funeral Home at 340 Main St. in Wellfleet.
Burial will take place at a later date.
In lieu of flowers, donations may go to the Wounded Warrior Project at support.woundedwarriorproject.org.