Anna was born on March 29, 1932 in the Little Italy section of New York City. She did not learn to speak English until she started school as her family only spoke Italian. She lived with her grandparents and would always tell stories of her wonderful childhood that she spent with her many aunts, uncles, and cousins. Back in those days, everyone lived within a couple of blocks of each other so family gatherings happened every day.
Anna enjoyed doing many things including crossword puzzles, ironing (it was an impressive form of art) and drinking coffee. She’d easily consume 5-6 cups in a day. Some would say she drank coffee with her creamer. She learned to cook from her grandfather and was great at it. And although she was not too keen on trying different foods, she ventured out and tasted other foods much later in life thanks to her friend Angela. For every holiday, Thanksgiving included, she would make macaroni and “gravy” (gravy is a spaghetti sauce with meat for those non Italians). It wasn’t until she was in her forties that she tried turkey for the first time.
While she loved to cook and iron, one of her greatest hobbies was shopping. If they had a shopping category in the Olympics, she would have won the gold every time, hands down. She could always be heard yelling “excuse me, excuse me” until someone would help her. It didn’t matter if they were busy or not.
She married when she was 17 and had 2 children. She moved out of New York City in the early sixties and made the move to Brooklyn, NY where she lived until the late 1990s. She then moved south and lived in Florida and South Carolina for several years so she could be closer to her family.
While living in Brooklyn, she and her husband got into sailing and they both really loved it. They would spend all their free time at the marina, either sailing or just hanging out on the boat with family and friends.
Anna held various jobs working for the phone company, an insurance company, a furniture company, and a law firm. She did not get her high school diploma until she was 60.
She made friends very easily. Everyone loved her and she would often bring homemade food to work and feed her co-workers. She enjoyed the occasional cocktail and spending time with family and friends.
She was very active until 2015 when her health started to decline. In 2017 she broke her hip and could not recover from it.
Luckily, there was a small window and she had a chance to watch her 2 great-grandsons play sports early on. She would have loved nothing more than to continue that as well as attending their many school functions and watching all their craziness. Unfortunately, her disease did not allow her to continue the life she wanted. And if she were aware of all that she was missing, it would have broken her heart. It is sad that she had to go through what she did, and it is a blessing that she is finally free from the confines of her illness.
She will be missed by many and fondly thought of with the many memories she made.
A graveside service to honor Anna’s life will be held at 11 a.m. on June 7, 2024 at Forest Lawn West Cemetery, 4601 Freedom Drive, Charlotte, NC 28208.
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