with her Mom
orphan
in the U.S.
|
with her Mom |
orphan |
in the U.S. |
A selection of her artwork from her studio in Annvile, close to Annville public library, just a couple of blocks from MJ's Coffeehouse and Allen Movie Theatre. |
I will be adding a guestbook in the next few days, but in the meantime you can write to me at andydepaoli@yahoo.com and I will add your comments to this page. |
This page is dedicated to my Mother. Her life was marked by several tragedies: lost her mother as a child and her father, chemist, painter and writer, passed away when she was still a teenager. She witnessed the war in Italy, theme of one of her last paintings. My birth, illegitimate, was not easy for a young womnan alone in Catholic Italy in the fifties. She married later, moved to the U.S. and had two children, Aggie, who died in a car accident at the age of 27, and David.
She moved to Annville with Bill Manning, her companion for over thirty years. I had already moved away years before, when she had divorced her first husband so I did not have a chance to know much of the new life she had created, nor her blossoming career as an artist (her life's ambition).
I managed to be back with her a few times the last few months. I was moved by the number of people in Annville who had come to pay their respect knowing of her passing away only by word of mouth.
I think she never realized how much and how many cared for her. I got a glimpse of that from the stories so many people in Annville told me about her: her studio always open, with a coffee pot always ready to be served and hours of conversation for people of all ages. She was ready to argue and defend her beliefs and convitions but did not shut anyone out because of theirs.
 the art studio sign |
 the kitchen table, where she served coffee |
 her two cats, Sebastian and Nicki |
 A news paper article about her in the local paper. |
| I've already received many emails with thoughts and expressions of affection for her though most did not ask to be posted on her Guestbook page |
I think she did not realize how much she was loved, or maybe, because of her losses, was afraid to find out, and was always reserved about showing her affection.
Perhaps the greatest legacy she has left me is to always have my own opinion of things; never to accept anything as the truth just because someone has said so. To be skeptical enough to want to find out things for myself, together with a love of books (perhaps because she always regretted that the war had interrupted her studies forcing her to be self taught), she encouraged me to read, a kind of dialogue in time, opinions and ideas being shared over the ages, transcending time and space.
I would like all those who have known her to add something to this page, thier feelings, memories or even a simple greeting.
You can write to me at andydepaoli@yahoo.com.
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