A Family

   Long time, no see! Hope you are doing well. My mom forwarded me the "family Q&A" email, but I've only just had the time to sit down and reply.  I am Mary Grace, daughter of Carol (Cozzoli) Zmuda and Henry Zmuda [and granddaughter of Joseph and Martha Cozzoli]. I don't have any siblings.   I grew up in the Panhandle for a few years, but called Gainesville my home for throughout middle school/high school and college. Now I live in Melbourne, FL (I wish it was Australia though!).  No children, unless you count my dog (who lives with my parents) and my cat (who lives with me)! I adopted my cat in the middle of college when he was just 8 weeks old. Now he's 3! His name is Sisko, after a Star Trek captain.  I work in the communications department at an aerospace & defense technology company, L3Harris (formerly known as Harris). I started last May! I'm actually in a rotational program, so I get to experience different areas of commun...

 About four years ago, I visited my sister Ann and brother Tom and his wife Jean in Jupiter, where they were living (Jean is still there, and now her daughter Sara and her family are also nearby).  It was probably January or February, and I was glad to be there, missing a huge snow and ice storm farther up the Atlantic coast.  Among the things we did together was to visit Janet at her condo above the water in West Palm Beach.  Janet very graciously made lunch for us and we caught up on our lives...it had been some years since I'd seen Janet, probably at the shore, when Mom and Aunt Vi or Aunt Sadie were there. Here are some photos which we treasure, especially since Tom passed away a year later, but also because we had such a lovely time with Janet that day, one of those that bank the memory. Thought we'd share. Ann Rexroad, Janet, Tom Jannuzzi Vicky Mills, Janet, Tom Tom

 Sadie DiLiddo Barbara Jaeger

 Ed. Note:  Janet and I talked by phone today and this is what she told me.  Anyone who has photos which can go along with this part of her story, please send them and I'll add, gladly.    rvm The Depression Growing up then didn’t make a very happy childhood.   We lived in Camden  my three sisters (I’m the second one) and my brother and parents, and during those years my mother worked, cleaning and baking for people who were wealthier.   My father had been laid off…there were many lay-offs then…so she had to go out to support our family.   Now I look back and feel sad for my mother, thinking of how hard she worked.  But we stuck together. I mentioned before that children often left school at sixteen to work, helping the family along.   In a class of 50, maybe two went on to college.   The rest of us worked.   We grabbed any job we could, in a candy store, or Woolworth’s five-and-ten, maybe a restaurant, whatever we cou...

  Night sky 2020 Dear Family, This year, I have so enjoyed connecting with cousins...third, fourth, fifth...and memories of those who have gone before, and am so glad that this blog has been a way to keep us in touch...at least on the keyboard. In a year when many traditions have to be re-envisioned, one of mine remains the same: to make and send cards about this time each year.  This year I began at the first of November and, after a few each day, reached the 108 mark.  Though it seems a lot, these days especially it helped to focus my mornings and give my spirits a lift...not that my grandson Alexander doesn't do that in the afternoons.  I wondered how I could include the rest of you in my greetings.  The answer was so simple:  here's the Family Blog...post here. So here is your card, above, and here my wish for you: I wish you peace, first of all,  in your hearts, minds and understanding. I wish you health. I wish you a good, really good year. Spea...

 Maureen wrote to say that Gil had found among Gary's papers this copy of the family tree from 1965, when I was away at college, and who knows where the rest of you were...some still twinkling on a star. Also attached was the beginnings of the Cousins Club.  It's a long document, which I will be glad to share by email with anyone who wants it, but here is the important first page...a telling one, to be sure. First of all,  look who's president and who's treasurer...no surprise there! Neither is the reunion chair. And look, they have an "audit committee", with the husband of the treasurer on it...flaming nepotism, if I ever came across it.  (I can't tell you how many committees, boards, and official positions I've held; I've never been on one with an audit committee, at least not a permanent one.  Anyway...) More important:  This is a great opportunity to introduce our newest member of the clan! My sister Ann's first grandchild, Brandon Colt, s...

  Sadie DiLiddo, 97th birthday Who I am I was the fourth child of Frank and Mary Lucchesi Cozzoli.  My paternal grandparents were Joseph and Rocca Baccellieri Cozzoli (the Baccellieris included Ralph, Pete and Irene); my maternal grandparents were Carl and Victoria Lucchesi (whose children were, young to old…Marietta, Louis, Clementina, Rosa…) Rocca and Joseph Cozzoli with children: Rachele, Serafina, Joseph, Ernestina, Erminia and Michael (youngest) We lived first at 328 E. Second Street in Plainfield, NJ, but during the Depression, we had to move from that house, and later we moved to 404 E. Second Street.  My father bought the property eventually.  He put his shop, the Cozzoli Machine Company, behind it where the old Italian Presbyterian Church used to be.  The Middaughs rented the second floor of the house, and Mrs. Middaugh stayed there until after my mother died. Sadie, aged 3 How I grew up We girls always had to do the dishes…one washed, one dried, ...

  I can remember going back to 1939 when I met my dearest friend,  Rocchina DiJulio Bruno,  Rocky for short.  Our friendship grew, and she introduced me to her first cousin Anthony Messina. It was the year we lost your great grandfather Joseph Cozzoli.   I will look into the lives of Rocchina and Joseph Cozzoli,  since I spent the early part of my marriage living with her, your Aunt and Uncle Messina.  Your grandfather passed away in 1939 just at the time I entered the family, and soon WW II was about to begin. We had 5 Josephs in the family, and one Rocchina.  How confusing must that have been when all Josephs were in the house at the same time. Soon after our High School Graduation, we went to work.  Only a few students could afford college; many  did not have the opportunity or finances.   In those days, a High School diploma was equal to a College Degree today.  Many Students quit school as soon as ...

 Ed. Note:  Hi, all... Lorraine has sent more photos for us to enjoy.  I'm going to let you guess who is who!  Put your answers in the Comments below. Photo 1 Photo 2 Photo 3 Photo 4 Photo 5 Photo 6 Photo 7 Photo 8