Hudson – Charles “Charlie” Anastas, 91, died Monday, Jan. 2, 2012, two days after celebrating his 66th wedding anniversary, over brownies and ice cream, with his beloved wife Grace and his two children, Chuck and Charlene Street, at the Rose Monahan Hospice in Worcester.
A lifelong resident of Hudson, he graduated from Hudson High School in 1939. He was the captain of the 1938 HHS football team and was a two-way player on championship teams in both 1935 and 1936. He also played hockey in the early years of that program. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Navy and served a six-year tour of duty during World War II.
For years, Mr. Anastas owned the A&A Pizza House and variety store on School Street in Hudson with his sister and brother–in-law, Ann and Tony Alera. The A&A enjoyed great success as one of the first restaurants offering pizza in the area and the only offering a thin-crusted pizza. They sold the A&A to their cousins, Jack and Paul Anastas in 1970.
He also owned a small television repair business in the 1950s and early 1960s, making house calls to replace defective vacuum tubes in early style televisions.
For the final 26 years of his working life, Mr. Anastas was a technician at Raytheon in Sudbury. He retired in 1985 and remained at his home on Lamson Avenue. He greatly enjoyed golfing with his friends, dinners with his wife Grace and her sister Rose Santos, summer trips to Cape Cod, and occasional winter trips to Florida. But most of all, and for all of his life, he was happy and proud to be a family man.
In addition to his cherished sister, Ann Alera, of Meadowbrook Road, and to four other siblings now deceased, George, Rose Margarit, Peter, and Vangie, he kept actively interested in the lives of his 11 nephews and nieces and of their children, as well, happily attending plays, concerts and especially sporting events.
Mr. Anastas would do anything for his children, to which they remain eternally grateful. He had great affection for his daughter-in-law, Sharon Britton, and son-in-law, Russ Aten. And, he fiercely loved his grandchildren, Lara, Chris, Anna and Becca, and was elated, of late, to become a great-grandfather to Aiden, Sadie and Chase.
A celebration of life will be held Friday, Jan. 6, at 10 a.m., at the St Luke's Episcopal Church, 5 Washington St., Hudson. Burial will follow at Forestvale Cemetery of Hudson. Calling Hours will be held Thursday, Jan. 5, from 4 to 7 p.m., at the Tighe-Hamilton Funeral Home, 50 Central St., Hudson.
