I remember Grandma smiling at me and asking me questions. She was bed-ridden when I knew her. I was only 4 when she died. But I remember her hugs and that she loved me.  The last time I saw her, she gave me a parasol. The adults took me outside to take my picture, and I looked up at her window. She was standing there with the help of her daughter, Margaret, smiling and waving. It made an impression on me because it was the only time I saw her standing.

Antonia was an excellent seamstress, like her mother, artistic and skilled. That’s how she attracted the attention of her husband. She would sit on the stoop of their tenement in the North End sewing, and Giuseppe would stop by to talk with her.  

‘Ntonia had a photographic memory, which she passed along to several of her children. She was very intelligent and curious. She wanted to understand how things worked, how they were put together. Whether the knowledge was textile, mechanical or medical, she sought it out and absorbed it like a sponge. That interest extended to people, to what made them tick. That is what I picked up on as a child. She was sincerely interested in 4 year old me. 

I don’t have the parasol any longer. But I do have the ceramic wall hangings of children praying that Grandma gave me. They hung on my daughter’s and my childhood bedroom walls. One day, I pray they’ll hang on my grand-daughter’s wall.

Click here for more information about the Favazza and Favaloro / Favalora families.