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Obituaries » ERMILDA A. ROCK
ROCK, ERMILDA A. “HILDA” MISTRANGELO, 99, died peacefully surrounded by family at the Green Mountain Nursing Home in Colchester, January 29, where she had been a resident for the past year. Ermilda, a longtime resident of Burlington, was born Aug. 6, 1914, in Barre, to the late Natalie and Giuseppina Mistrangioli. Ermilda was the first of the six children to be born in the United States, after her parents and older brother and sister immigrated from Italy. She was raised on a farm in Orange, where she attended a one-room schoolhouse. Ermilda relocated to Burlington when she was a teenager, living and working for various families while she attended high school. Her first formal job was working at the East O’Lake Inn in Shelburne, where she waited tables and performed housekeeping duties. She was very proud to send her wages home to help support her younger sister through school. Subsequently, she worked for two different families, caring for their children and performing housekeeping duties. At the age of 23, she met Kenneth W. Rock, a salesman from the Burlington Drug Co. They began dating and continued to court as World War II began. They were separated by their work during the war, when Ermilda went to work in the defense industry at International Silver in Meriden, Conn., where she aided the war effort by making munitions. Ermilda and Kenneth were married in August of 1943, at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Burlington. At the end of the war, Ermilda and Kenneth moved back to Burlington, where she became a homemaker and mother. They eventually settled on Henry Street, where she resided for 65 years. Ermilda was deeply involved in the educational upbringing of her four children. She was a member of Mount St. Mary’s Mother’s Club, and the PTAs at Cathedral Grammar School, Mater Christi and Rice Memorial High School. In addition she was a member of the St. Ann’s Society at the Cathedral Parish. She was a longtime member, and the sole surviving member, of the Red Clover Home Demonstration Group. Ermilda went to work for the Saga Food Service (Marriott) at the University of Vermont, where she worked for 13 years, until her retirement in 1979. After her retirement, Ermilda enjoyed the various athletic and scholastic activities of her grandchildren. She could often be seen on the sidelines at various sporting events, where she became known as “Grandma Rock” to many a student athlete. She also enjoyed refinishing and caning furniture, cooking and baking, organizing, cleaning and traveling. Ermilda enjoyed talking to people wherever she went, and never forgot a face or name. Ermilda was predeceased by her husband, Kenneth, to whom she was married for 64 years. She was also predeceased by her parents and five siblings, Leonard, Eleonora, Alfred, Aldo and Rosa, as well as her longtime friend and neighbor, Charlotte Remick. Ermilda is survived by her four children: Kathryn Trudell and husband, Richard, of Grand Isle; John Rock and wife, Jean, of So. Burlington; Robert Rock and wife, Marie, of Colchester; and Ann Rock, of Somerville, N.J. She also leaves five grandchildren, six great-grandchildren, four nephews, and two great-nieces.
