Robert Victor Cellupica Send a condolence note

Laconia-----Robert Victor Cellupica, 82, of 15 Elizabeth Terrace died at the St. Joseph Hospital, Nashua on Thursday, Jan. 3, 2008.  He had been a resident of Forest View Manor, Meredith since April, 2007.

Mr. Cellupica was born November 4, 1925 to Francesco and Vincenza (Girardi) Cellupica in Gorham, (Cascade) N. H.  He attended St. Benedict Parochial School in Cascade and graduated from Gorham High School in 1942.  He earned letters in football, basketball and baseball.  Following graduation, he worked in Portland, Maine at the Todd-Bath and South Portland shipyards and also at the Brown Co. Tube Mill in Berlin, then worked at the Portsmouth Shipyard as a blueprint clerk and enlisted in the Navy in 1943 at age 17.  He attended Boot Camp in Newport, Rhode Island and volunteered for Submarine duty.  He served in the Pacific aboard USS Bang (SS385) and took part in successful patrols in the Yellow Sea and western Pacific participating in the Iwo Jima and Okinawa campaigns.  On April 21, 1945, the Bang rescued a downed flyer, Don Corzine, a graduate of Brown University, off the island of Ishigaki in 1945.  His service medals include American Theater, Pacific Theater with two stars and the WWII Victory Medal.  He qualified in submarines allowing him to wear the twin dolphins.  He earned the Submarine Combat Insignia with one star.

Following discharge, he worked in the Brown Co. Woods Dept. as a clerk in lumber camps in East Bethel and on Lower Richardson Lake in Maine and Bog Brook camp in N. H. and on a log drive at Upper Dam between Lake Mooselookmeguntic and Richardson Lake in Maine.

He attended Burdett College and graduated in the Accounting-Business Administration course.  He worked for Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. in Woodsville and Lancaster and was employed for more than thirty years as an Outside Plant Engineer with New England Telephone and retired from Verizon in 1986.

Mr. Cellupica served as a Selectman in Lancaster, moved to Laconia in 1959 and served two terms as Councilman in Laconia’s Ward II.  He was a former member and Junior Vice Commander of Ross-Wood Post American Legion Post #20 and a former member of the Lions Club in Woodsville and a former member of Mahaney-Brisson, American Legion  and the VFW in Lancaster.  He was a member of Wilkins-Smith American Legion Post #l of Laconia.  He was a past president of Lancaster Kiwanis Club, a 3^rd Degree member of the Knights of Columbus since 1951 and was a Past Grand Knight.  He served as secretary of the International Brotherhood of Telephone Workers and had been a member of the Elks since 1947 and was a life member of Laconia Lodge #876.  He was a member of Squalus Chapter, Submarine Veterans of WWII. (Maine and New Hampshire.)

Survivors include, son, Robert Cellupica, and his wife, Ellen (Sevigny), of  Hopkinton, Massachusetts; a daughter, Denise Cellupica-Bourgoine and her husband, Dustin, of Laconia; a son, Peter Cellupica, and his wife, Joan (Trainor), of Laconia, N.H.; a son, Gerard Cellupica, and his wife, Elaine (Corriveau), of Colorado; six grandchildren; two step grandchildren; a brother, Anthony Cellupica, of Berlin; a sister, Mary Bosa, of Berlin; a brother, Francis, of Dover; and several nephews and nieces.  He was predeceased by his wife, Laurette (Montminy) Cellupica in October, 1999.

There will be no calling hours.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Wednesday, January 9, 2008 at 11:00AM at St. Joseph Church, 30 Church Street, Laconia by Rev. Gary Kosmowski, Pastor of the Church.

Internment will take place in the Columbarium at the New Hampshire State Veterans Cemetery in Boscawen at the convenience of the family.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Holy Trinity Endowment Trust c/o St. Joseph Church, 30 Church Street, Laconia, N. H. 03246 or Community Health & Hospice, Inc., 780 North Main Street, Laconia, N. H. 03246.

Wilkinson-Beane Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, N. H. is in charge of the arrangements.