Gentilina Nordman

Gentilina “Lilly” (Potalivo) Nordman of Southbridge died on January 4, 2019 after a brief illness. She was born July 1, 1924, daughter of the late Francesco and Lucia Potalivo and was the wife of 57 years of the late Melvin Nordman. She was also predeceased by her brother Harry Lanza and sisters, Mary Gendreau and Connie Olszta and their husbands Arthur Gendreau and Edward Olszta, who she loved dearly. She is survived by her 3 children - Jean Trombley and her husband Robert of Bozeman, MT, Marjorie Dorney and her husband Kevin of Norwell, MA, and David Nordman and his wife Darlene of Woodstock, CT. Adored by her grandchildren, Katie Dorney Wong, Brian Dorney, David, Scott, Michael and Derek Nordman, and Daniel and Matthew Trombley and her great grandchildren Dylan, Ellie, and Josie Wong, Bailey Nordman, Nicholas Nordman, Zachary Nordman , and Riley,Leo and Brady Nordman. Mr. and Mrs. Nordman were both very involved in the Leonard J. Lemire Post 6055 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars for many years. They were the first couple to serve simultaneously as Commander of the VFW and President of the Ladies Auxiliary in 1967. In 2002 Lilly was honored as Woman of the Year by the VFW in recognition of her contributions to the organization over the years. Lilly worked as a production worker and then supervisor at the American Optical Company for 37 years, retiring in 1984. She and her husband enjoyed many happy years of retirement caring for their grandchildren and traveling across the country many times, including a car trip from Southbridge to Alaska on the Old Alaskan Highway. They visited all 50 states creating maps of each trip for the grandchildren to follow. Lilly also enjoyed sewing and cooking and baking for her family and friends. She was quite proud of her Italian heritage and her Italian specialty dishes were well-known and loved. Her positive, loving and accepting attitude and her strong devotion to her family and friends were an inspiration to all who knew her. A visitation hour will be held on Saturday January 12th from 10:00 to 11:00 a.m. in Holy Trinity Episcopal Church, Hamilton Street, Southbridge, MA. Her Funeral Service will follow at 11:00 am in the church. Burial will follow in Oak Ridge Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a memorial contribution to the Veterans of Foreign Wars by mail – VFW Processing Center, PO Box 8958, Topeka, KS 66608-8958 or on line at VFW.com An online guestbook is available at wwwBelangerFuneralHome.com Belanger-Bullard Funeral Home, 51 Marcy St. is directing arrangements. <iframe id="tukios_player_512x330" allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameborder="0" height="330" scrolling="no" src="https://www.tributeslides.com/videos/embedded_video/DPRLFHMRJ3GFB272" width="512"></iframe>