Obituary for Stella Abruzzo
Stella Abruzzo, 97, died Tuesday April 21, 2020 at JFK Medical Center, Edison, NJ. Stella was born and raised, and lived most of her life in Canarsie Brooklyn, NY. In 1994 she and her late husband, Sam, relocated to Manchester, NJ and following his death she lived near her daughter Katherine Liss.
Her early years were deeply affected by the Great Depression. She left high school at age sixteen to help support her family, working as a dressmaker in a sweatshop. During World War II she assembled gyroscopes for the Sperry Corporation to support the war effort. She married Sam Abruzzo and they lived together for 64 years before he passed in 2011. Always striving for a better life for her family, when she was in her fifties, she took a job as one of the first women to work at NY Racing as a parimutuel clerk. Even without a high school degree, she was quite literate, always reading and curious about life. She cared deeply about providing for the family, and she helped many young nephews connect with a first job; and she was a not reluctant to play matchmaker for friends and family. She and her husband helped their children raise four grandchildren and she took great joy being with her seven great-grandchildren. She was a talented dressmaker and good cook who carried on many of the Sicilian traditions – she was famous for making and giving away her Christmas fig cookies and other traditional desserts.
She is predeceased by her husband Sam and her grandson Sam Liss. Surviving are her son James Abruzzo & his wife Lorraine of Lee, MA, daughter, Katherine Liss and her husband David of Metuchen, NJ, three grandchildren, Gianna Abruzzo, James Abruzzo, Alison Rhoades and seven great-grandchildren. Interment is Monday at Brigadier Gen Wm C Doyle Veterans Cemetery, Arneytown, NJ. A memorial service, for family and friends, will be held next year around the anniversary of her death.
Sunday April 26, 2020 Live Stream link :https://iframe.dacast.com/b/156599/c/534023
Her early years were deeply affected by the Great Depression. She left high school at age sixteen to help support her family, working as a dressmaker in a sweatshop. During World War II she assembled gyroscopes for the Sperry Corporation to support the war effort. She married Sam Abruzzo and they lived together for 64 years before he passed in 2011. Always striving for a better life for her family, when she was in her fifties, she took a job as one of the first women to work at NY Racing as a parimutuel clerk. Even without a high school degree, she was quite literate, always reading and curious about life. She cared deeply about providing for the family, and she helped many young nephews connect with a first job; and she was a not reluctant to play matchmaker for friends and family. She and her husband helped their children raise four grandchildren and she took great joy being with her seven great-grandchildren. She was a talented dressmaker and good cook who carried on many of the Sicilian traditions – she was famous for making and giving away her Christmas fig cookies and other traditional desserts.
She is predeceased by her husband Sam and her grandson Sam Liss. Surviving are her son James Abruzzo & his wife Lorraine of Lee, MA, daughter, Katherine Liss and her husband David of Metuchen, NJ, three grandchildren, Gianna Abruzzo, James Abruzzo, Alison Rhoades and seven great-grandchildren. Interment is Monday at Brigadier Gen Wm C Doyle Veterans Cemetery, Arneytown, NJ. A memorial service, for family and friends, will be held next year around the anniversary of her death.
Sunday April 26, 2020 Live Stream link :https://iframe.dacast.com/b/156599/c/534023