Vitina LanFranca Cervellione was born in Santa Ninfa Sicily. She was married at a young age to her slightly younger husband. Her parents, both bakers, left for America to make a better life for themselves and temporarily left Vitina in Sicily to care for her youngest brother Thomas (Guytano) LanFranca. At that time she already had her own baby, Joseph (Ignazio), to care for and she also had a business working as a seamstress.

Vitina's husband, Giuseppe came to America first and sent for his wife and son a little bit later. They lived in Cuyahoga Falls Ohio, near Akron and he worked as a butler/gardener/cook for the Vaughn family. Giuseppe died when he was only twenty eight when he contracted the Spanish influenza. At the time Vitina was still pregnant with her youngest child, Josephine. Because of fear of contagion, Vitina was not even allowed close enough to Giuseppe to say goodby one last time.

Vitina was the daughter of bakers and the wife of someone employed as a cook. Therefore, it was not until after the death of her twenty eight year old husband that Vitina ever had to cook for her family in earnest.

After her husband's death, Vitina moved her family to Brooklyn where she lived downstairs from her parents and younger brother Tommy. She worked as a seamstress at "Pinkus Dresses" for a number of years. She had the special talent of being able to look at a dress then go back to the office and recreate a pattern for that dress later. Therefore, Mr. Pinkus would take her to runway shows and, after viewing the latest collections, she would return to the factory and help recreate the latest fashion lines.

She made countless dresses, feedsack and otherwise, for her daughter and her granddaughters. She had a lifelong love of Sicily but she was always striving to better her English.

Amazingly, all of her children went to trade school or college. Her oldest son Joseph was an entrepreneur who had several successful businesses. Her youngest child, Josephine, went to hunter college and received a scholarship to medical school (she got married before finishing medical school).

Vitina wore black or black and white stripes, checks, dots, etc. almost every day of her life after the death of her husband.

Vitina is buried in the same grave as her son Joseph in New York. She initially wanted to be buried next to her husband in Ohio but her son really wanted to have her by his side. Knowing what I do about her, I think she would be satisfied that her children loved her so much they couldn't bare to be parted from her, even in death.

Vitina would be glad to know you stopped by and spent at least a few minutes thinking about her today. She went to church every day, if you have a minute do her a favor by saying a little prayer for her.