Margaret Penner (Corsi), age 90, passed away gracefully on October 13, 2020 at the Landmark Medical Center in Woonsocket RI..
Margaret (Maggie) was born on February 10, 1930, in Cortland, NY to Antonino Corsi and Assunta Spaziani. Margaret’s mother traveled from Sgurgola, Italy to Ellis Island on the SS Giulio Cesare in 1922 with $16 in her pocket and little knowledge of the English language to start a family. This very fortitude and resilience of her mother’s was in Margaret’s blood from her birth until her very last breath.
Margaret married John Penner in 1950, whom she met while working as a soda jerk in upstate New York. They were a duo with an unmatchable wit and dry humor that they passed down to all of their kids and grandkids.
Margaret and John had 4 children: Michele (Mikki), Patrick, Jon and Michael. Her children were her everything and she was quite often brought to tears when simply speaking their names.
Margaret spent the majority of her working life cooking, baking, and running her family’s restaurant on Cape Cod, aptly named “Margarite’s”. She became well known for her sass and her “hot fudge pie”, that she even baked for other restaurants she worked for until her late 70s in both Massachusetts and Fort Myers, Florida.
Our dear Maggie was a tenacious, unapologetic, hilarious woman who labored over desserts and pasta dishes until her feet could support her over her kitchen stove no longer. She was our beautiful fighter. Margaret persevered when colon cancer tried to steal her away from us in the 80s, she battled with a struggling heart that tried to take her from us in the 2000s, and then she bravely tried to mend her broken heart after the loss of her sacred daughter in 2015. We will forever be inspired by Maggie’s unshakeable resilience, her fire, her confidence, her sense of style, and her outspoken, brazen sense of self. Our matriarch was often heard saying to us, “Bless your heart”, and we echo those very same sentiments to her until we finally meet again.
Margaret is predeceased by her son, Patrick, her sister, Genevieve, her husband, John, and her precious daughter, Mikki. She is survived by her two beloved sons, Jon and Michael, her daughter-in-law, Sue, her son-in-law Greg, her granddaughter, Erin, and her two grandsons, Michael and Max.
There are no calling hours. The funeral and burial will be at the convenience of the family.
Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Consigli Ruggerio Funeral home 46 Water St. Milford MA.
In lieu of flowers, we lovingly suggest that donations be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.