Beloved Lynn barber had room for a lot of loves in life

LYNN – The late Tom Angelucci’s wife, son and granddaughter remembered the World War II veteran and well-known city barber Tuesday as a man who loved his family, his neighbors and the men he served with in North Africa and Europe.Angelucci, who died last Friday at the age of 92, liked to tell anyone interested in the war how he and fellow members of the 23rd Photo Reconnaissance Squadron were on the North Italian border in late April of 1945 when Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini attempted to escape from Italy ahead of conquering Allied forces.Angelucci’s son, Steven, recalled his father telling him how he witnessed troops escorting Mussolini off a truck wearing a dress and heavy boots. Steven Angelucci said his father spoke briefly with the Il Duce before he was executed by Italian partisan fighters.After leaving the military, Angelucci returned to Lynn, attended barber school and began cutting hair in Vincent’s Clip Joint, the Lewis Street barber shop his father opened in 1903.”I liked to tease him and say, ?I sent you to school at BC – barber college,'” said Angelucci’s widow, Carmella.The couple were married for 65 years and spent most of those years in their home at the corner of Maple Street and Fernwood Avenue. Angelucci’s love of gardening and tending his rose bushes extended to the traffic island within sight of his home.His widow said he “adopted” the island 25 years ago and spruced it up with flowers.”He would run the hose from the house – I think we lost two of them to cars,” Steven Angelucci said.The city installed plumbing and electrical outlets on the island and Angelucci dedicated time during the holidays and other times of the year to decorating the island.”He loved to beautify things. He would sit at the kitchen window and come up with ideas,” Carmella Angelucci said.Angelucci’s innovations included equipping his barber shop with a merry-go-round horse instead of a barber’s chair. He bought “Chester” from a New York carnival equipment manufacturer and transformed squalling and crying children into happy customers.”He said, ?There’s got to be a better way to cut kids’ hair,'” his widow said.Customers who stopped at the traffic island Monday night to gaze at rows of candles lit in Angelucci’s memory told Carmella and Steven Angelucci about the times they sat on the horse or plopped a squirming child on top of “Chester.”Steven Angelucci recalled the day four years ago his father reluctantly laid down his scissors and comb.”He didn’t want to retire but he said, ?I’m just so tired.’ He was an Old World man who believed he had to go to work and support his family,” Angelucci said.