Saugus Firefighters honor former Revere Jake on his 103rd birthday

By Neil Zolot

Maurice DiBlasi turned 103 on June 20. That’s right, 103. He was born in 1920. “I never thought I’d make it this far,” he confessed.

He now lives in Saugus, but spent many years in Revere, living near downtown and working over 35 years as a firefighter. “He loved being a firefighter,” his daughter Joanne DeLisio, with whom he shares a house in Saugus, said.

Although only 5′ 4” tall, DiBlasi met all the strength requirements of being a firefighter and thrived in the job. “I’m a little guy but wasn’t afraid of anything,” he said. “I did what I had to do.”

DiBlasi served day and overnight shifts in almost all of the city’s fire stations, including the headquarters on Broadway and ones in Point of Pines and on Walden Street off Shirley Avenue.

He retired in 1968 at age 55 due to health reasons. Despite the gap in years, on Veterans Day in 2022 he received an honorary plaque from the Revere Firefighters Local Union 926 reading, “Heroes are those who serve through life’s steep climb and never give up.”

At the Central Fire Station downtown, DiBlasi rode on a new fire truck. “He’s doing incredible,” Chief Christopher Bright said of DiBlasi’s condition.

The family home was near the main station. Sometimes family members knew about calls, sometimes they didn’t. “We didn’t have social media to know about everything,” DeLisio said, but DiBlasi’s daughter Lisa Baglieri, who also lives in Saugus, remembers, “When we heard sirens, it was a little worrisome.”

DiBlasi’s brother James, now 88, was also a Revere firefighter. Their names were often in local newspapers. A third daughter, Patricia, lives in Wakefield and her late husband was also a firefighter.

In all DiBlasi has had four children, 11 grandchildren, the oldest of which is 52; 12 great-grandchildren, the youngest of which is two; and two recently born great-great-grandchildren. “There’s a lot of us,” Baglieri joked.

He had a big 100^th birthday party and a good sized 103^rd, but COVID put a damper on one in between.

DiBlasi is also a Navy veteran and served in World War II. His training was in Virginia and he was on a destroyer that was damaged off Casablanca.

In his naval career, DiBlasi was often called to work on and in torpedo tubes, possibly because of his size. “When they needed a man to do a job there, they called me,” he remembers. “They’d yell for DiBlasi.”

“I know Mo,” retired Navy captain and Saugus Veterans Council Commander Stephen Castinetti said. “He was our keynote speaker at a Saugus Veterans Council Veterans Day ceremony a few years back and did a great job! He is always willing to talk about his days in the Navy and really enjoys reliving those days for the folks he is talking to. It’s always interesting and exciting to talk with Mo about his Navy days. I would love to have him join us again at another ceremony. I tried to get him to be our Grand Marshal for Memorial Day this year, but things didn’t work out.”

A nice hobby has been travelling. Over the years there were trips to the Bahamas, Hawaii, Italy and Mexico. His daughters recall family trips to Canada.

DiBlasi looks very well for a 103-year-old. “I try to live day to day,” he said. “I’ve had an interesting life.”

When asked how old he is, as he often is, he jokes, “I can’t count that high.”

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