In 1998, as this Certificate attests, my mother's name was immortalized on the The American Immigrant Wall of Honor® at Ellis Island, NJ. Everybody loves Nonnie! And the entire family is all very proud of her.
Ben, my brother, his wife, Barbara and my husband, Henry;
her six grandaughters: Mimi, Marguerite, Cindy, Patti, Virginia and Nancy; Next come her great-grandchildren, Chris, Josiah, Tom, Dana, Joe, Marlena and Elisa.
Last and far from least is her namesake, Lucia born June 4, 2000.

Here's Lucia in her great-grandmother's arms.

My mother's Certificate.

[Click on the certificate to see detail]

July, 1996

September 16, 1928 [Click on the Bride & Groom to see them up close]

My Mother epitomizes the American Success Story.
Lucy Mary Melino came to America from Italy as a ten year old child and settled in NJ, where she still lives. At 18, she married my father, James Vincent Fressola, the son of Italian born parents. While raising my brother Ben and me, she bought and paid off her own home. Known for her green thumb, she maintained a garden lush with flowers and fruits and an Italian fig tree, prized by all of us — cuttings of which have borne fruit in NJ, TX, PA, CA and WA. Throughout the years my talented mother has created hundreds of finely crocheted items for her pleasure which adorn many of our homes. She sewed most of her own clothes and that of her family's on an old fashioned Singer Treadle sewing machine.
See that gorgeous wedding gown? My mother made it herself!

There's more! My mother is an accomplished cook and has committed hundreds of recipes to memory -- several of them family favorites, that we all treasure.This industrious lady achieved all these wonders while working fulll time as a skilled factory worker. Since she never drove a car, she walked miles every day well up into her late 70's. Still active, she is and always has been an avid reader, and is well informed. She traveled all over the world with my father.

Lucy Melino Fressola, who started off as a poor immigrant is a fiercely independent, self sufficient American who has never accepted a penny of charity from anyone.

Here's my big brother Ben and me, circa 1992.	And, squinting into the sun, a few years earlier.
Lucia Fressola at age four months. See some wonderful old pictures of a younger Lucia at Mimi's web page. (Mimi Boothby is Lucia's first granddaughter.)

Did your parent(s) emigrate to America via Ellis Island? You too, can have their name(s) on
The American Immigrant Wall of Honor®. To learn how Click here

Do you like the background on this page? Check out Mimi's beautiful Background Gifs page!

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