Judith's father, Giovanni, came to this country to find work and left his wife Rosa in Italy with their 2 daughters, Antonia and Pasqualina. After Giovanni found work on the railroad system in PA., he sent for his wife and 2 daughters, to join him in Force PA. Judith, was born in Force (Elk Cty) Pa., followed by Peter and Joseph. Because Giovanni and Rosa did not want their sons to work in the coal mines of PA., the family moved to Manhattan, NY. There in 1909 Rosa died of a massive infection and left 5 children for Giovanni to raise. Giovanni found no one to help raise the children while he worked; the first two girls, Antonia and Pasqualina married at 16 and Judith aged 5, Peter and Joseph went to an orphanage in Peekskill NY, run by the Franciscan Nuns. She told me the story of every week standing on line so that the nuns could give them cod liver oil. To offset the horrible taste, they gave each child a piece of orange so that they could quickly put the orange in their mouths after the cod liver oil. Judith lived there until she was 13, when she, Peter and Joseph returned to live with their father. Joseph died at the age of 20 from TB of the intestines, another heartbreak for mom. She worked in a sweat shop sewing bindings on mattresses and received pay according to how many pieces she would sew. Judith married Pasquale Delli Carpini in 1931 and had 3 children - Dominic (died in 2005 of lupus), Joseph and Mary Jo. When I was 2 years old, she came down with a kidney infection and stone. 60 years ago,not many people survived, but after major surgery and many long weeks, she pulled through. She was a beautiful woman, both inside and out and I miss her very much.
She died from a massive heart attack at home.