Rev. Rocco Memolo
Deceased: 2018-06-08
Diocese: MANCHESTER
Seminary Graduation Year: 1976
Rocco C. Memolo, 67, a longtime resident of Gilford and Laconia, died Friday, June 8, 2018, at Lakes Region General Hospital in Laconia after a period of declining health. He had recently been diagnosed with inoperable cancer.
“Rocky,” as he was known to family and friends, was born Oct. 12, 1950, in Berlin, the firstborn child of Fio and Michela “Millie” Memolo. He attended public and parochial schools in Berlin and graduated from Berlin High School where he excelled on the debate team. He went on to graduate from Princeton University and the Gregorian University in Rome.
He spent nearly 20 years of his life ministering as a Roman Catholic priest. He was assigned to parishes in Exeter, Dover, Merrimack, Laconia, Plaistow, College Station, Texas, Nashua, and Gorham, where he was pastor of Holy Family Parish. Later he worked at Lakes Region General Hospital, until he had to retire after suffering a serious stroke in 2002.
Rocky was very proud of his family, his Italian heritage, his years in parish ministry, and being a Princeton alumnus. He attended every major reunion of his Princeton class until last year when he was unable to go because of his worsening physical disability. He was proud to be able to donate to Princeton every year, determined in some small way to help those high school graduates from families of limited financial means — like his own — to have the caliber of higher education that he was so fortunate to have had. He was also generous to the North American College in Rome, where he lived for four years while studying at the Gregorian.
In 2015, the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston honored Rocky for living with insulin-dependent diabetes for 50 years.
He is survived by his sister Faye and her partner Nancy of Georgia; his brother Louis and his wife Lorraine of Gorham; his niece Amy of Rochester; grandnephews; Carter and Cian; and Michael Mortensen of Gilford with whom he made his home. He is also survived by four uncles, two aunts, and numerous cousins.
In addition to his parents, he was predeceased by a nephew, Jonathan Memolo; three uncles and four aunts.
Calling hours will take place on Thursday, June 14, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. at St. Andre Bessette Parish-Sacred Heart Church, 291 Union Avenue in Laconia, with a Mass of Christian Burial immediately following at 10:30 a.m. Burial will take place at a later date in the family plot in Holy Family Cemetery in Gorham.
