Michelina Gasparine

UPDATE: The family has organized a repast in honor of Michelina on Sunday, January 30, 2022 from 12- 3pm at Redwoods located at 459 Main St. Chester, NJ 07930.

Michelina (DiMeo) Gasparine, “Mickey”, 73, of Chester, passed away after a long illness on January 2, 2022. She is survived by her loving husband of 38 years Anthony "Butch" Gasparine and devoted daughter Dana Gasparine as well as brothers Alfonso (Marie) DiMeo, Alexander (Joanne) DiMeo and Victor (Coleen) DiMeo. She leaves behind 18 nieces and nephews, 15 great-nieces and nephews along with cousins and countless friends. Micky was preceded in death by her parents Virgilio & Carolina DiMeo.

Mickey grew up in Newark, NJ in an Italian immigrant family. Until age five she spoke Italian but quickly picked up English. Most people would brag about that sort of thing, learning two languages. But Mickey never bragged about anything--except maybe her husband and daughter. There was nothing she loved more than being a mother to Dana. It was a love indescribable to most. Except when you saw it in action you realized that maybe, most definitely, Dana had the best mom there ever was. 

While she was an excellent mom and wife, she also loved taking care of people. She worked as a teacher's assistant at  St. Mark's Daycare, followed by a stint at Roxbury Daycare before retirement. She worked so hard for so long; a quiet force of strength and support for all. 

Another of her passions was traveling. She and Tony loved to take extended visits to Los Angeles to visit their daughter, and in her younger years Mickey loved spending time in Puerto Rico with their close family friends. She could get along with anyone, any time. She didn’t even need to speak the same language to express her love. And love she did, wherever she went and to whomever she met.

She was blessed with a beautiful family that adored her: brothers and sister-in-law, and their families, who brought her only pride and happiness all their lives, and friends who were so close and important to her that they became her chosen family. She was the type of person to give anyone anything they needed at any time, and there was no harder-working woman around. 

Mickey was surrounded by husband and daughter in her last moments, but they both know that she will always be with those that she loves for eternity. 

Visitation at the Leonardis Memorial Home, Inc., 210 Ridgedale Avenue, Florham Park on Thursday from 4-7pm.  Funeral on Friday assembling at the funeral home at 10:30am followed by the funeral mass at St. Rose of Lima Church in East Hanover at 11:30am.  Interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. 

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Mickey’s name to: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital or Shriners Hospitals for Children, see donation box below for details…..

To plant a beautiful memorial tree in memory of Michelina Gasparine, please visit our Tree Store.