Deidre Muccio

Deidre Ellen Muccio

Northampton, MA - Deidre Ellen Muccio died peacefully on July 13, 2023, after a courageous three-year battle with lung cancer; she was 68. As her friend Mary Bowen described, "Deidre was always fully present, highly cognitive, and creatively alive."

Raised in Miami, Florida, the fifth of seven children, her father, Bob Muccio, immigrated to New York City from Sicily. He married American-born Irene Fronte whose parents had also emigrated from Sicily. Bob was a master ebonist who designed and built custom furniture for Miami's elite and for Miami Beach hotels; Irene was a master homemaker, artist, and chef. As Deidre's brother Craig described, "The Muccio kids were very fortunate to grow up at the end of a safe, oak-tree-lined cul-de-sac, an ideal neighborhood to run around in." Her older sister Dulce added, "What Sicilian culture didn't mold, our Catholic upbringing did. Deidre defied it when she exasperated the nuns in high school by rolling up her uniform above her knees!"

Highly intelligent, she earned degrees from Miami Dade Community College, a BA in Studio Art from Florida State University, a bachelors in English Literature from UMass Amherst, audited classes at Smith College, and became a nationally certified therapeutic massage therapist, all while blind.

She also worked or volunteered for grass-roots social justice organizations. As her brother Lloyd described her, "Deidre hated bigotry, greed, war, destruction of the planet, and anything that put money ahead of the well-being of ordinary folks."

Blind since her twenties, she moved through space like a dancer, accompanied by one of her expertly trained guide dogs, Lacy, Mare, or Louise, each as curious as she was. She was a familiar sight in Amherst and Northampton but not until free-spiriting her way through Europe, Ghana, Canada, and much of the US. The West and East Coasts captured her attention before she finally settled down in the Pioneer Valley in 1986.

Her brothers Lloyd and Craig and sister Dulce thank all her devoted friends who doubled as caregivers, including Lynn, Robert, Joyce, Sharon, Amy, Joanne, Danielle, Tamar, Judith, Miles, and great-niece Denisse. For the professional and loving care she received from the oncology staff at Mass General Hospital in Boston, Hospice of the Fisher Home in Amherst, Gomes Home Health Care, and Janet Wilson, many thanks. A very special thanks also to Joyce Tousey and Steve Pfarrer for welcoming Deidre into their home the last months of her life so that she could leave this world as she entered it, surrounded by those who loved and adored her.

A Celebration of Deidre's Life will be held on October 21st from 1-3 pm at the Bombyx Center for Arts and Equity. All her friends and family are welcome! Please rsvp: https://celebratedeidreslife.rsvpify.com

In lieu of flowers, gifts in honor of Deidre may be made to Massachusetts General Hospital in support of lung cancer research. Gifts can be made online at https://giving.massgeneral.org/donate or mailed to the MGH Development Office, attention: Keith Erickson, 125 Nashua Street, Suite 540, Boston, MA 02114. Please include "in honor of Deidre Muccio" on the memo line.

According to her brother Lloyd, "She loved deeply and generously and was loved deeply and generously in return, the truest measure of a wonderful life."

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