Astra Irena (Dambergs) Covell, 95, passed away peacefully at home on Tuesday, Jan. 2, surrounded by her loving family.
Astra was the daughter of Paul and Zelma (Riduss) Dambergs. Born in Riga, Latvia, on April 11, 1928, she grew up surrounded by a large and loving family of many aunts, uncles and cousins. She attended school, studied piano, enjoyed gymnastics, tennis and volleyball, and spoke several languages.
At 15 years old, during World War II, her family was displaced and lived under communist and Nazi rule for several years. She slept in haystacks, barns and at times out in the open while they traveled by oxcart through desolate landscapes and demolished cities, eventually living in refugee camps in Germany until 1949. Along with her parents, she emigrated to the United States by ship from war-torn Europe.
Sponsored by the Lutheran Church, on her second day in America, Astra was sent to Racine, Wisconsin, to live and work with a doctor and his family as a cook where she learned to prepare American dishes still enjoyed by her family on special occasions. After some time, Astra moved back to Boston with her parents where she attended Boston University, studying chemistry. She also found work at Jordan Marsh, Boston Lying-In Hospital and as a bank teller, eventually meeting her future husband and love of her life, Paul B. Covell, at flight attendant school.
In 1956, Paul and Astra married, ultimately enjoying 53 loving years together. With Paul’s work in the hotel and restaurant management business, they traveled and lived in New York and Pennsylvania but came back to Boston in 1968. With their growing family of three children, in 1969 they moved to Marblehead, where Astra became part of the fabric of the community through her work at Brown’s Bakery, Fruit of the Four Seasons and as an owner of BIX Furniture Stripping and Refinishing.
Astra loved nothing more than her family, but also enjoyed gardening, throwing legendary dinner parties for friends and being a Little League mother at Gatchell’s pit, watching her two sons play baseball and football from the bleachers. Alongside her daughter, she enjoyed shopping and attending musicals and plays. Accompanied by her mother, daughter and later, granddaughter, she regularly attended social events at Latvian churches in the Boston area, a community she was part of for decades.
She spent hours watching her beloved QVC, spoiling those she loved and occasionally herself as well. When not shopping on the television, she sought out coverage of the royal family, spent time rooting for all of Boston’s sports teams and watched every tennis match possible. A notorious card shark, she spent many a Saturday night with her husband, longtime friends and granddaughter, winning hand after hand, raking in fistfuls of pennies. When her daughter returned to work after having children, she selflessly spent the days with her grandchildren, passing down family traditions and instilling a lifelong love of learning. When they went on to school, she shared those gifts as a caregiver for the children of other local families.
Astra was a patron of Latvian charities as well as St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and proudly supported veterans’ causes. She was a voracious reader her entire life, enjoying multiple topics and genres. With her husband, she loved to travel and enjoyed bus tours and cruises. In 1983, Astra took her mother, then 85, back to Latvia for a visit, where she realized that America had truly become her home. In 2004, Astra and Paul sold the family home and purchased a condo on Lake Winnisquam in New Hampshire, where they enjoyed seven of the happiest years of their time together. After her husband’s passing, Astra moved to North Carolina to live out her remaining years with her daughter, son-in-law and son.
Astra leaves behind her daughter Cindy and husband Robert Maher; son Richard Covell, all of Knightdale, North Carolina; son David Covell of New Orleans; granddaughter Jennifer and husband Christopher Reynolds, great-granddaughters Nola and Cortana of Revere; grandson Robert “Bo” Maher and wife Rachel, great-granddaughter Ava and step-great-grandson Vincent Gaussoin, all of Zebulon, North Carolina.
A private graveside service and burial will take place in late spring/early summer in Boston. Donations in her memory may be made to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at stjude.org/donate.
