First and foremost the Cammarata family would like to thank the city of Revere, where Vincent lived from the age of 11 years old, for providing his family with yet another opportunity to remember and honor him.
Thank you Mayor Arrigo, Veterans’ Affairs Director, Marc Silvestri, and the Revere City Council for accepting our recommendation and honoring our request for placement of this Memorial Pole for Vincent F. Cammarata.
Dad moved to Revere in 1934 at the age of 11, for the next 84 years it would be the city that he came to know, love, and serve living in four different homes all on, or very near Washington Avenue.
Vincent served in WWII as a Seaman First class aboard USN LST #308 from 1942-1944 and was involved in the Normandy Invasion; he was truly a proud member of this country’s Greatest Generations Following his honorable discharge from the U.S. Navy he returned to the city of Revere to start his family with his beautiful wife and our Mom Lucy and began his varied careers often working 2-3 jobs so we could summer on the Cape and our sister, his daughter Rose, could drive a corvette.
Vincent’s public service began in 1957 when he accepted an appointment on the Revere Parks and Recreation Commission. He sought and won his first venture into politics with an election to the Revere School Committee in 1961 and served through 1963 In 1964 he was assigned as a Code Enforcement Official/Housing Inspector to the Revere Board of Health working as an employee for 18 years. In 1998 he came out of retirement and renewed his commitment to his city by accepting a seat on the Revere Conservation Commission serving until his retirement in April of 2016. For a total of nearly 45 years Vincent F. Cammarata served the city of Revere in various capacities; as an employee and on boards, committees, and commissions.
Vincent’s greatest joy came from the time that he spent with family; his four children, eight grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. Dad, Papa, Pano, was a great patriarch; the strength, and the moral compass that guided his entire family.
Up until his passing on March 31, 2019, at the age of 95, Vincent remained active in Revere’s vibrant social and political scene and maintained a love, loyalty, and passion for the city that has given so much to him and his family.
This three story house where our parents, Vincent and Lucy raised and nurtured their four children is the most fitting placement for this Veteran’s sign post, this fence and the flagpole took many hits over the years, but one particular moment stands out when one evening a driver under the influence in a pick-up truck rammed the fence and sheared the flag pole in half. Dad ran out as to find the driver on our lawn, but unharmed.
By the time I got here Dad was standing over him with a section of the flagpole in his hand. At that moment my respect increased for him enormously as when I asked him what he was doing he said, if this guy gets up and tries to leave I will whack him across both knees! That was our Dad a very kind, gentle, and caring soul, unless there was any threat to our home or familv.
Our Dad Vincent had a great warmth and overwhelming sense of morality; he was a consistent source of energy and compassion.
Feel truly blessed if you knew him as a friend or a relative, or even had the distinct pleasure of meeting him on just one occasion.
I will leave you with these final words from a book called Servant Leadership that sum-up Vincent’s love and commitment to the city of Revere:
“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community, and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live
Thanks to all of you for being here today and sharing this proud moment with the Cammarata family.
