Manuel N. Da Silva Obituary
Manuel N. da Silva passed peacefully, surrounded by love, at his home on March 9, 2022.
Manuel was born in Criação Velha, Madalena, Pico, Açores, Portugal on December 7, 1931, to the late Jose Nunes da Silva and Maria Madalena Silva.
After immigrating from Pico to America, with his growing family, he worked for over 30 years as a machinist with Gloucester Engineering. He, and his wife Maria da Silva, whom he shared 63 beautiful years with, spent their time often traveling back to Pico or California to visit family and friends.
He said many times, "I came to America with a half empty suitcase and 20 bucks in my pocket.". Everything Manuel had, he built.
And nothing made him happier than working with his hands and doing it with the family he built his entire life for.
Even before immigrating to America from "the old country", he had a deep-rooted love for land—both working it and buying it.
Manuel had a green thumb that took patience and intricate skill. He could be found wearing a pair of Dickies, a collared t-shirt, and straw hat; holding a woven basket in one hand, reaching for a grape, pear, plum, or apple that was ripe and ready with the other. He endlessly pruned and dug at things in the garden, scored two plants to produce a new variation of fruit, and constantly planted grass seed in patches that just weren't up to his standards. In more recent years he asked his daughter Lisa to plant the yearly Begonias, under his supervision of course, sometimes taking the tools from her hand to place them perfectly himself. The land was his happy place.
His other love was the ocean. His lifelong dream was to have a home by the water—a place he and his family could fish right off the dock. He succeeded at that dream, again, building it with his own two hands alongside his sons and family. He scouted out the spot by boat, made the plans, and moved the stones himself. He spent many summers with his sons Manny and Jose filling up the boat with mackerel, cod, or striped bass. It was one of his favorite things to do.
He loved his granddaughters and the quality time he spent with them. He often cuddled with Gabriella on the couch each with a chocolate chip cookie in hand and always looked forward to taking their yearly pear tree picture together. He enjoyed teaching Emily all the family recipes; chicken soup, Portuguese sweet bread, and loved jokingly critiquing her version of the family's apple pie. He loved sitting out on the deck watching them both jump off the dock and especially loved visits from his four-legged great-grandchildren Ruby and Jagger.
Everything he built, he built for his family. That's his legacy—his unwavering strength. It's how he will always be remembered.
Manuel was a devoted husband, father, grandfather, brother, uncle, and friend.
He is survived by his beloved wife Maria da Silva and their three children, Manuel EG da Silva, Jose daSilva and his wife Danyle, and Lisa Jonas; his grandchildren, Emily daSilva and fiancé Derek Cote, and Gabriella Jonas all of Gloucester. He is also survived by his siblings Jose DaSilva of Gloucester, Maria Julia DaSilva of Somerville, Maria Margarida Rosario of Stoneham, Emidio Silva and wife Conceicao of Gloucester, Maria Conceicao Faria and husband Jaime of Gloucester, Maria Jose Gil of Gloucester, sister in-laws Maria Silva of Portugal and Isabel Pinho of Hayward California, brother in-law Jaime Garcia of Gloucester and many loved nieces and nephews.
He was predeceased by his in-laws Manuel F. Garcia Sr. and Francesca G. Garcia of Gloucester, his brother Francisco Silva of Portugal, sister in-law Isabel DaSilva of Gloucester, brother in-law's Manuel F. Garcia Jr. of Gloucester, Joseph Pinho of Hayward California, Jose DaSilva of Somerville, Manuel Rosario of Stoneham, and Carlos Gil of Gloucester.
Visiting hours will be held on Monday March 14, 2022, from 9:30-10:30a.m., in the Greely Funeral Home, 212 Washington Street, Gloucester, MA. Funeral Mass to be celebrated in Our Lady of Good Voyage Church in Gloucester Monday at 11a.m. The burial will follow in Calvary Cemetery, Gloucester. Family and friends are cordially invited. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in his name to a Cancer or Parkinson's Disease charity of your choice.
