It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of our beloved mother, Michele Towne (née Tischio). Michele was born in Newark, NJ and later moved to Bloomfield, NJ where she attended Holy Name School and later, Bloomfield High School where she met her first husband, Joseph Stagliano. Their 20-year marriage produced two beautiful daughters, Leigh Ann Stagliano Tedesco, and Michele Kraley. Michele later married her beloved Thomas N. Towne and made a life with her daughters and Tom in Verona, NJ for the next 40 years.
Michele worked in a variety of roles but her favorite and most outstanding was mother, mother-in-law to Steven Tedesco and James Kraley and grandmother to Olivia, Luca, Joseph, and Madison who affectionately called her "Mammy".
Michele's career was spent in banking beginning at Montclair Savings Bank and retiring from Valley National Bank in Livingston, NJ, where she served as manager and retired in 2013. She was also involved in real estate eventually owning Towne & Towne Real Estate in Verona, NJ with her husband, Tom.
Michele is predeceased by husband Tom; parents, Joseph and Lelia Tischio; step-mother, Rose Tischio; beloved aunts who raised her, Rachel Connelli, Rose DiNicola, Lydia Modugno and many dear aunts, uncles and cousins.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to alz.org.
A Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. on Thursday, February 29th at Holy Angels Church in Little Falls, N.J. (please arrive at the funeral home by 8:30 a.m.), with an interment at Immaculate Conception Cemetery, Upper Montclair, N.J. Visitation is Wednesday from 4 to 8 p.m. at Caggiano Memorial, 62 Grove St., Montclair.