Lucia Mercedes Centomini

CENTOMINI, Lucia Mercedes, (née Collarte) age 95, passed away on Tuesday, March 28, 2023. She was a graduate of the School of the Holy Child, Manhattan, New York.  She was a graduate of the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, where she majored in French and English.

Lucia was one of the first people to work for Radio Free Europe in New York, New York, a broadcast organization that had been created and funded by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in 1950 to provide information and political commentary to the people of communist eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. She first worked as the Executive Assistant to the Director of Radio Free Europe, Allen Dulles (who later became the Director of the CIA).

Lucia met her husband, Gualtiero Centomini, in Rome during her first trip to Europe.  They later married on October 22, 1955.  They eventually settled in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, raising three children and running a travel agency known as Birmingham & Oakland Travel.

Lucia was a lover of many sports.  She played basketball in her teen years.  She developed an affinity for tennis and golf in her adult years.  She excelled in tennis and was often ranked in the various tennis leagues in which she played. She also loved to sing, and with only a little prompting, she would happily belt out “Give My Regards to Broadway” or the UNC fight song to the delight of all those around her.

Preceded in death by her mother, Marion (née Kane) Collarte, and her husband, Gualtiero Centomini, she is survived by her children, Francesca (née Centomini) Kunk and her husband, Michael; Marc Centomini and his wife, Jacqueline; and Claudia Centomini and her husband, Jeffrey Hermanson; two grandchildren, Kelsey Morgan, and Miranda Quinn; and two great grandchildren, Charlotte Morgan and Elena Quinn.

The family would like to express our thanks to United Church Homes of Marietta, Ohio (Glenwood Community, Harmar Place, the Pines, and its Hospice Care Team) for the steadfast care and dedication shown to Lucia during her final years.  If desired, friends may make memorial contributions to the Alzheimer’s Association ( www.alz.org ). Condolences may be sent to the family at www.CawleyandPeoples.com or by following their Facebook page.