Defazio was 63 years old and had worked at the board for about 10 years.
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“God has an angel and I had an angel every day taking care of me,” Noonan said.
Defazio was “always on task” and completed jobs weeks before they were due, Noonan said.
“She’ll be hard to replace,” she said. “She was my employee and my friend.”
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Noonan said she was texting with Defazio’s family on Monday when she got an alarming message: “CPR. Please pray.”
Then she didn’t get another message.
“I knew something was bad,” she said. “This is just heart-breaking.”
Defazio is survived by her husband, David, and two daughters, Holly Defazio and Heather Drinan.
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