Obituary

Olga F. Carito

Mon, 01/30/2017 - 11:00am

Olga F. (DiIanni) Carito of Watertown, Massachusetts and Boothbay Harbor, died Jan. 27, 2017 at age 88.

Olga was the former owner and operator of the 1879 Seafarer Inn on Union Street from 1989 to 2005.

She was born in Boston, Massachusetts in the Italian community of the North End. She entered elementary school only speaking Italian, but went on to graduate from Girls’ High School and Emmanuel College. At age 52, she received an MA in mathematics from Boston College.

After the eldest of her six children graduated from high school, Olga turned a temporary substitute teaching position into a 20-year career teaching mathematics at Watertown High School in Watertown. She loved her students and devoted countless hours to providing them with extra help after school. She liked nothing better than introducing them to the beauty of math in everyday life.

In 1988, Olga found herself touring through Maine with a friend, winding up their day at a bed and breakfast in Boothbay Harbor. When she heard the owner and his guests commiserating about him putting the place up for sale, she looked around and announced, “I’ll buy it.” She did and she opened her doors in 1989.

Being the owner and hostess of The Seafarer Inn was the business she was born to run. Endlessly charming, a lover of people, and proud of her hearty breakfast, Olga entertained countless visitors, most of whom refused to depart without a hug and a kiss. She was active in the Rotary Club and proud to participate in the Maine Women’s Network for women owned businesses. She was a devoted member of Our Lady Queen of Peace Church where she sang in the choir.

After her health declined, Olga moved back to the Boston area where she loved to spend time with her family, grandkids, and her Kaluki playing friends. Summers were devoted to returning to Boothbay Harbor where she could sit on the broad front porch of her home on Union Street and watch the comings and goings in the beautiful harbor.

Olga was the beloved wife of the late William A. Carito; loving daughter of the late Joseph and Katherine (Gennazzi) DiIanni; devoted mother of William and his wife Barbara Ross, Maria Kent and her husband John Kent, John and his wife, Heather Mick-Carito, Roseanne Taylor, Francis and his wife Maryann Mulligan, and Carl and his wife Eliana Carito. Also, she was dearly loved by her grandchildren, Robert, Katharine, Alexander, Hilary, Genevieve, Emily, Daniel, Breno, and Christelle. She was great-grandmother of Viola Jane Carito.

Olga was also predeceased by her grandson, Brendan Mick-Carito and her son-in-law, Mark Taylor.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 11 a.m. in St. Patrick Church, 212 Main St., Watertown. Visitation is from 10 to 11 in the church prior to the Mass. Relatives and friends are kindly invited. Burial will be at Mt. Auburn Cemetery. Visiting hours in the MacDonald, Rockwell & MacDonald Funeral Home, 270 Main St., Watertown will be on Thursday, Feb. 2, 4-8 p.m. Memorials in Olga’s memory may be made to Catholic TV, 34 Chestnut Street, Watertown, MA.