Doris Pellegrino

Doris Ann Pellegrino, age 62 of Wayne, passed Tuesday, January 31, 2023 with the comfort of her family and friends by her side.

Doris was born to George and Ann Gaffney in Brooklyn, New York.  She was their only child and as her name suggested, their gift from God.  She was a happy child with many friends who spent all of her time playing outside  - she would say she had all she ever needed right on 64th street.  When she moved to New Jersey, she would still visit Brooklyn where she truly felt at home with her friends and her grandparents.  Doris always said rainy days reminded her of being at her grandmother’s home in Brooklyn and she could smell the sauce being made on a Sunday.

Doris moved to New Jersey as a child and graduated from Hopatcong High School.  She attended Montclair University and earned professional degrees from Chubb and Steven’s Institute that would lead her into a career at Benjamin Moore & Co. where she would spend over two decades amongst her colleagues and friends.

One of Doris’ first jobs was working as a waitress at the Dakota Diner, where she met one of her dearest friends. It was there that she saved money for their first trip to Italy that remained in their memories.  

Through the years, Doris found her role as project manager - she would say, “This is me, I love what I do - years ago, they just didn’t have a name for it.”  She was right - it was who she was even outside of work.  Everything Doris worked on, she approached as a project.  When her children were preparing to attend college, when she had to move her mother, when they were doing home construction and even during her last chapter.  Doris would say to her family and her doctor, “We are going to treat this as a project.  Let’s figure out what we have to do, and we will do it.”   

Doris was a mother, a wife, a daughter, a niece, an aunt, a sister and a friend to so many.  Words people use to describe her are, “a light”, “the rock”, “my best friend”, “my fuel”, “sisters in another lifetime”, “daughter I never had”, and  “always smiling and wanting to live”. Everyone relied on her during their hardest moments to be comforted by her advice and her deep hugs. She could make anyone smile.  She had a true understanding of what really matters in life and loved her friends and family deeply.  For her family, she represented stability in always providing a loving home, wisdom at life’s crossroads, and strong sense of tradition. Doris valued being around people who made her laugh and who loved to live as much as she did.  Travel was such a tremendous part of her life -  she’d refer to herself as being “a gypsy” who would pack her bag and just go with no expectations.  At the core of her love of travel, was her love of people.  She wanted to be with them, in their world, to enjoy being with them and the beauty of it.  

Doris met Tony, her loving husband, while in college at an Italian dance.  It was a moment of coincidence for them both that led to an eternal lifetime together.   The words “do you have a match?” lit a light that will never dim.  In their marriage, Doris gained the love of sisters, brothers, cousins and in-laws.  Tony and Doris had two children, Gianna and Joseph, who married Charles and Michelle.  Being an only child herself, Doris taught her children to love each other and she demonstrated her love to them in so many ways. Doris will also leave behind three grandchildren who will be forever loved and watched upon by their Nana in heaven.

As this chapter of Doris’ life came to an end, she confidently and joyfully said that she had everything she’d ever wanted.  She rested in faith that God had given her a wonderful life.

On behalf of Doris and her family, we would like to thank each of you for having been a part of her life and bringing her so much love and joy. We ask that you continue to remember Doris in the happiest of memories you shared with her.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memorial Processing, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105-9959, or Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center, Development Dept., 95 Old Short Hills Rd, W. Orange, NJ 07052, would be greatly appreciated.