Ida Calligaro

Ida Calligaro (nee Battistus), age 99 of Wayne, died on Friday, December 1, 2023.

She was born in the family home in Clifton, where she lived until she was married. Ida graduated from Clifton High School with the Class of 1942 and has lived in Wayne for over fifty years.

She met the love of her life Mario Calligaro at a dance in the Co-Operative Hall in Clifton. They married ten months later at St. Claire’s Church in Clifton on September 29, 1946. They enjoyed fifty years of loving and devoted marriage before Mario’s passing on November 24, 1996.

Ida graduated from Drake Business College in Newark and attended New York School of Interior Design. She worked at the Waldrich Company in Clifton and at Hoffman La-Roche in Nutley as a secretary. In 1966, Ida went back to school at William Paterson College where she earned a degree in Elementary Teaching. She worked for the Wanaque Board of Education, teaching 3rd, 4th, and 5th grade, for twenty-five years before retiring in 1994. During her years with the Wanaque Board of Education she continued her education at William Paterson College earning her Master’s Degree.

Ida’s loves were her family, interior decorating, collecting antiques, education, and teaching children.

She was the loving wife of the late Dr. Mario V. Calligaro (1996); devoted mother of Dr. Bruce Calligaro and his wife Diana of Ringwood, Dr. Keith Calligaro and his wife Dr. Ina of Narberth, PA; the late Dr. Greg Calligaro(2008) and his wife Tammy of Maryland; cherished grandmother of Jason, Dr. Lindsey, Breanne Calligaro Decker, Blake, Anthony, and Ashley Calligaro; proud great grandmother of two; loved sister of the late Richard Battistus (1975) and the late Mafalda Pavan (2011).

 Those planning an expression of sympathy in Ida’s memory are asked to consider St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, www.stjude.org