School Committee remembers Tony Mattera

By Michael Coughlin Jr.

At its regular meeting last week, school committee members shared fond words about the late Tony Mattera, an educator and coach in the Revere school system for more than 30 years who most recently served on the committee before he passed away in June after a fight against cancer.

Committee Member Stacey Bronsdon-Rizzo said she considered Mattera to be family and a friend and praised him for his ability to simplify complex subjects and make learning enjoyable.

“His unconventional teaching methods, such as lessons with dropping the egg contest from the roof of Lincoln School, microorganisms, and mock stock market investments, showed how innovative he could be when educating our students,” said Bronsdon-Rizzo.

“Tony’s absence is deeply felt and missed, and his family, friends, students, and colleagues will mourn his passing.”

Committee Member John Kingston, a friend of Mattera for over 40 years, read from a Facebook post by Ed Deveau.

Deveau’s post highlighted Mattera’s love for his family and the community and his commitment to hard work, which was so strong that he served on the school committee even during his illness.

The post in part stated, “The lesson, one we have heard often, one that bears repeating, and more importantly one lived by and left to us by Tony: live your life as best you can, be the best you can, and enjoy it to the fullest because you never know when or how it will end.”

“Tony was a great friend to me, an amazing friend; he never said no. I made all kinds of requests of him and his business and never said no and always said we’ll make it work, John,” said Kingston.

Committee Members Aisha Milbury-Ellis and Anthony Caggiano both offered their condolences to Mattera’s wife, Denise, and son, Max, who attended the meeting and called his passing a loss for the community.

“I am going to miss the work that I feel we could have done on this committee,” said Milbury-Ellis.

“I really enjoyed the time. We spoke a lot, and he had no filter, but he was all about the kids,” said Caggiano.

Frederick Sannella, who
mentioned he hopefully would continue on Mattera’s behalf, said, “He really truly enjoyed what he did. He made education fun.” 

Mayor Patrick Keefe spoke highly of Mattera and his hard work. Keefe, addressing his family members in attendance, said, “He’s a very good person. You should be proud of your father; you should be proud of your husband and what he’s done for our community.”

“We thank you for offering him to us up until the very end.”

Superintendent Dianne Kelly spoke to the impact of the Mattera family on the community. His father was an assistant superintendent in the district, other family members are and have been educators in the district, and now there is a new generation of the Mattera Family in Revere education with his son Max, who teaches at the Garfield Middle School.

“You [Max] have adopted his belief of teaching kids in these ways that are unique and different and really engage them in the learning and make it fun to be in school,” said Kelly.

“Every time I look at you, I’m going to look at you, and I’m going to think of how proud your dad is at what you’re doing in the classroom and the lives that you’re continuing to change, third-generation of the Mattera Family impacting kids in Revere.”

The last person to offer words of remembrance was Assistant Superintendent of Equity and Inclusion Lourenço Garcia, who shared a powerful story about speaking to a man in tears at Mattera’s wake who said Mattera was the reason they were alive that day.

“It touched me profoundly because those comments are important coming from somebody that left the city for probably 15 years — he told me he lives in a different city here in Massachusetts — but he came all the way just to see his friend, somebody that made a difference in his life,” said Garcia.

Following Garcia’s remarks, Keefe offered a moment of silence in memory of Mattera.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.