In Memoriam and Tribute to My Grandmother

Life has an unusual way of pushing us to where we need to go.

In Memoriam and Tribute
Concetta, My Grandmother
December 8, 1923 – June 15, 2021

It’s been over a month since my grandmother, Concetta, passed away, and I am missing her terribly.

What can you say about the loss of a woman who has been such an important part of my life since I was young? At 97, she was still spirited and smiling and the same wonderful woman I remember welcoming my sister and me when my dad dropped us off at her house way too early in the morning before going to work. My sister and I spent weekdays with her when my mother and father were at work.

As I think back on my time with Nonna and the stories she told me about her life, I am finding added meaning in the words I use to describe my life, and more recently, the work I am doing to develop Ostoh. Life has an unusual way of pushing us to where we need to go. Over the past few years, it has been applicable to my life. As I reflect on Nonna’s story, it certainly is a statement that had relevance for her, too.

Nonna would be the first to tell you she had a good life. I believe it was because of the time we all spent together as a family…my mother, her daughter; my father; my aunt; my sister, my brother-in-law, and my wife…and the gratitude she felt about the way she had been able to overcome adversity and meet her challenges head on to build a good and solid life for herself and her family.

One of 10 siblings, she was only a teenager when during World War II in Italy, she and her family, like many other families, had to hide in caves and other scary places to escape the bombings. Even worse, she experienced the horror of watching her sister get killed by a Nazi soldier. Years later, she took the risk of traveling to America on her own, preceding her husband to get a foothold in a country which promised a better life for their family. Her husband joined her, but he died suddenly soon after. As a young mother, she was left to be the glue that held the family together while providing for her children in an era in which immigrants and woman were not much seen, nor welcomed in the workplace.

In the stories both she and my mother told us, it was clear that Nonna never flinched in the face of adversity and met her challenges head on with great strength, resolve, and grace. It is perhaps ironic and incredible that a woman who was small in stature (she barely topped 5 feet), came to America with old world values and served as such a role model for all of us. With quiet dignity, she instilled in us a strong work ethic and the importance of family.

It is extraordinary, really, how we assimilate the values of people who have amazing stories like my Nonna. It is also remarkable how the memory of these stories sticks to become our inspiration and motivation at exactly the time we need them. I have to say that Nonna’s perseverance was top of mind for me when I experienced 10 years of stomach attacks with their unknown causes; her courage calmed me when I was suddenly faced with life-changing surgery and my adjustment to my new life as an ostomate; and her ability to take risks that would improve her life motivate me while I develop Ostoh and bring this company to life.

I may no longer be able to see Nonna and to visit with her. But she is in my heart...and my remembrance of her phenomenal strength, courage, and spirit have become my NorthStar.

Life has an unusual way of pushing us to where we need to go.

In Memoriam and Tribute

Concetta