OLD TOWN – Mary Carmela Amero, age 75, passed away in hospice care surrounded by family on Friday, August 5, 2016. She was the youngest of nine children, born on December 22, 1940, in Old Town, Maine, where she spent her time livening up the place.
While raising four kids, she helped her then-husband, Al Amero, build and run three retail businesses. From Spagetti-Os to hunting rifles, from Moto-Skis to penny candy and everything in between, those businesses offered enough variety of merchandise to make the Four Corners in West Old Town worthy of its blinking traffic light, but Carmela’s sense of fun and kindness behind the counter helped make that little intersection feel like a community.
As she entered her middle years, she stopped selling retail goods (and stopped being married to her husband) and began running a ceramics shop, Carmela’s Hobbies, where people could share her love for creating fun art. She spent time as a cashier at Zayre’s, where she brought her wacky humor and goodwill to the customers.
Health problems slowed her down eventually as the years passed, but never enough to stop her from dedicated yard-sale shopping, whipping her kids at cribbage, cheering for the Red Sox, travelling to see her loved ones who lived away, attending church, playing Bingo on Monday nights, or making friends with everyone she happened to be in line with. Carmela always championed the underdog, and she was a good listener. Like the best comediennes she was never scared to look foolish to give someone a laugh. She was always the “cool mom” to her kids’ friends. Everyone who met her, even if only once, remembers her.
Carmela is survived by her children, Susan Amero, Anthony Amero, Jean Amero Anderson, and Alan Amero; her grandchildren, Jake Myers, Payton Amero, Ian Anderson, Z Anderson, Michael Belval, and Alex Amero; and her great-grandsons, Simon Browne and Aubrey Myers; her ex-husband, Albert Amero; as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents, Alma and Emmanuel Messier, and her eight siblings, Thomas Messier, Lloyd Messier, Robert Messier, Margaret O’Connor, Leona Bradley, Bernard Messier, Lawrence Messier, and Louis Messier.
Friends may call 5-8PM Friday, August 12 at the Birmingham Funeral Home, 438 Main St., Old Town. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated 10AM Saturday at Parish of the Resurrection, Holy Family Church, Old Town. Burial will follow at St. Joseph Cemetery, Old Town. Immediately following the services, all are invited to the Parish Hall for a light luncheon and continued fellowship.
Carmela loved flowers, but she loved her dogs and her church more. Donations to Old Town Animal Orphanage, P.O. Box 565, Orono, ME 04473 or the Holy Family Church Catholic Church, 429 Main St., Old Town, ME 04468.