Joseph Gentile “Joe” of Centerville passed peacefully on December 3rd at the age of 95 at Maplewood Assisted Living. He was born in 1925 in Charleston, MA to Joseph and Rosa Gentile (Ferlauto). He was predeceased by his loving wife Mae of which they were married for 67 years, and leaves behind daughters Linda Foley and husband David, Karen Arana and husband John, son Mark Gentile and wife Rose. Also predeceased siblings Rosalie DeVita, John Gentile, Helen DeMaggio; and brother Arthur Gentile living in Woburn. Joe was loved by family and community, and will be fondly remembered by many. Anyone who knew Joe met a serious, energetic, hardworking man who strongly believed in giving back to the community. Joe and Mae enjoyed their retirement for 38 years living with the serenity and beauty on Cape Cod. He always enjoyed seeing his 10 grandchildren and 12 great grandchildren growing up. He attended Medford High School and often talked about the varsity soccer team he was proud to be a part of. During high school he worked after school at the Charleston Navy yard. He voluntarily joined the Navy at the age of 17 to proudly serve his country during WWII. He spent 2 and a half years stationed in the Philippines. Soon after returning from the war he met his beautiful loving wife at a dance and they were married in 1953. Joe worked for the Boston and Maine Railroad and Amtrak for 38 years. Every year he always took his family on summer vacations around New England, many times including our cousins Rosemary and Gerry. He also traveled a lot with Mae throughout the U.S. and including Portugal and Australia. Joe gave much of his time to volunteering during his retirement years. He served as Commander of the Hyannis VFW, was a life-long member of the Elks for over 60 years and was honored as citizen of the year in 2017, also a member of the Marines and volunteered at the Police Dept. He joined many annual fund raisers, parades (as late as March of 2020), laying of wreathes on Veterans days, and just recently conducted a pinning ceremony for Veterans living at Maplewood Assisted Living that gave him great pride and joy. Mae and Joe spent many hours at the Barnstable Senior Center together making friends, socializing, arts and crafts, and volunteering. He was a dedicated Catholic and assisted Our Lady of Victory church as a lead usher, greeter and gifts collector. His hobbies included playing softball, the organ, dancing, card playing, woodcarving, boating, vegetable gardening, and fishing. The grandchildren will always have many fond memories of visits to grandma and papa’s home boating, fishing, clamming, parades, fish fries, and many days spent at Dowses beach. . Fair winds and following seas.
The family thanks all the wonderful caretakers and administrators who recently, lovingly cared for him in his time of need
Donations can be made to the Barnstable Senior Center.
Funeral service will be private. He will be buried at the Massachusetts National Cemetery. For online condolences, please visit www.doanebealameshyannis.com .
