Lucia DeSantis
Marcantoni
It is with deep sorrow and much love that we mourn the
passing of a loving wife, mother, and grandmother, Lucia DeSantis
Marcantoni on November 9th, 2021, after a long
and courageous battle with Multiple Myeloma.
My mother came to Canada from Italy on
September 20, 1968, seeking adventure, employment, and greater
opportunities for her family. Like many other immigrants,
she and my father were looking for a better life, one that they
thought they could not have in Italy.
With two children in tow, my mother was
welcomed by strangers who did not speak her language nor understand
her culture. She brought with her not only her desire to
make a better life for herself but her willingness to improve the
lives of her children.
She was born on July 14, 1941, in the
small town of Notaresco (TE) in the Abruzzo region of Italy to the
late Sabatino and Antonietta DeSantis. Abruzzo is a region where the
north meets the south, bordered by the Apennines to the west and
fringed by the Adriatic Sea on the east. My mother would return to
Italy yearly to be with family and friends to enjoy the beauty of the
land she left nearly 50 years ago.
She came to Moncton and worked
tirelessly side by side with my father for over 40 years.
They opened a small tailor shop that they operated until their
retirement in 2000. At that time, my mother was diagnosed
with Multiple Myeloma, a disease that would change her
life’s trajectory for the next 20 years. My
parents closed their shop after her diagnosis and move to Montreal to
seek better treatment options. They lived there for 20 years
until they moved back to New Brunswick in December 2020 to be near
their daughter.
Unfortunately, this terrible disease
that she managed to endure gracefully over the years, has now taken
this shining star. She is survived by her loving husband of
59 years, Nevio Marcantoni, who will miss her terribly, her daughter
Antonella (Siegfried) of Fredericton, N.B, who worked endlessly to
help her mother during the last few years of her life and her son
Walter (Denyze) of Sherbrook, Quebec.
To her grandchildren, Isabella, Sofia,
Claudia, Lea and Enzo, she was known as “nonna”.
Nonna was courageous, outspoken (she was never afraid to speak her
mind!), generous, hardworking, and cranky (sometimes!) but most of
all, she was loving to those around her. Her greatest
passion was cooking. It helped her reconnect with the old
Italy she knew growing up. She would make magnificent
Italian meals that she would share with family and
friends.
She also leaves to morn her
sister Adele (Vincenzo, Sonia, Katia and Roberto), brother-in-law
Mario (Margherita, Lorena, Roberto, Riccardo), sister-in-law
Antoinetta (late Giovanni, Carlos and Anna Maria) as well as many
friends and family members in Italy, Montreal and Moncton.
She will be sadly missed by her dear friend Lina of Montreal, for whom
she had many laughs and tears!
I want to thank the
doctors/nurses that took care of my mother for the past 20
years: Dr. Richard Leblanc, Mme Nathalie Lachapelle, Mme
Louise Chevalier all from Montréal’s
Hôpital Maisonneuve-Rosemont, and Dr Nizar Abdel Samad and
his staff from the Moncton Hospital, the wonderful nurses at
Fredericton Hospice House for their constant compassion and empathy,
and desire to please my mother for all her meal
requests!
A private family service will
be held on Friday, November 12th, 2021, at
Bishop’s Funeral Home, 540 Woodstock Road, Fredericton, NB,
at 3PM AST, 2PM EST and 8PM CET. No visitation by family
request. If you wish to donate in Lucia’s memory, please do
so to the Fredericton Hospice House www.hospicefredericton.ca.Those
attending must provide proof of vaccination, proper identification,
and wear a mask. An
Our most sincere sympathies to the family and friends of Lucia DeSantis Marcantoni 1941 2021..
Death notice for the town of: Fredericton, Province: Nouveau-Brunswick