How we will miss her

She was a very special lady. She was my surrogate grandma in Michigan. I remember when I first moved to Michigan, I gravitated toward her at family gatherings. She and I always had things to talk about. She told me how she missed Albert. I told her how I missed home. She's always been one of my favorite people. It's been hard, the last few years, to see her go downhill from both health problems and the perpetual sadness of missing her dear Albert who died in 2001.



No one could cook like her. The woman was dedicated to making good pasta, sauce, crispelle. And I've heard so many stories from the past about the great meals she made, about how she could haggle with the people at the fruit market for the most spotty rotting tomatoes ... and make the most terrific sauce you ever tasted, in a dented pan she picked up at a garage sale for 25¢.



She had stopped cooking a lot in the past few years. Luckily she passed so many of these skills on to Joe-Dad and Aunt Joanne. But she was the master! The matriarch. And there's no replacing her.

And there was not a more loving grandmother, according to her 5 grandchildren. John remembers spending so much time with her. Jill remembers "birdie kisses" and just how wonderful and loving she was.

My deep hope now is that she will look down on, watch out for and help our poor girl Stella Caterina.



Rest in Peace, Caterina. You will be missed forever.