Rest in Peace Grandma Tranfaglia

Rest in Peace Antoinette G. Tranfaglia
September 21, 1916
November 26, 2011

This is her favorite saint. Saint Francis of Assisi. 

This picture was on the prayer card they handed out at the wake.

My fiance Kellie wrote this for her grandmother's funeral and it was read out loud by the priest at the service. It was beautiful, and I think it sums up perfectly how most people felt about her.

 
My grandmother was truly an amazing woman. I know that sounds like such a simple statement, but if you were to ask anyone that knew and loved her, ‘amazing’ would be the word they would use to describe her.  


She was born the daughter of Italian immigrants and grew up in a time that I could not even imagine living in. As a young girl, she and her 12 brothers and sisters worked hard to help their parents put food on the table every night. My grandmother would always tell one particular story about the time her father made her kill her own pet chicken because they had nothing else for dinner that night. When I was younger, I thought it was funny, but as I grew older, I realized just how hard it must have been and how truly amazing she was for sacrificing so much for her family. She was always so devoted to her family. She loved her family and always put everyone before herself.


My grandmother also loved to cook, and as some people know, coming to her house was sometimes very dangerous. If you ever came over when she was cooking or if she had food made or even if she didn’t, she would find something, anything, and serve it to you, and she would not be satisfied until you ate ever last piece. She would even give you her own food if she thought you were still hungry! To her, food was just another way to make people happy…even if it cost them a few extra pounds.


I’d like to end this on an even more personal note. All my life, out of all the stories she had ever told me, my grandmother repeated one particular story the most. 25 years ago, my grandmother was lying in a hospital room, very sick with cancer. She was praying to God, over and over again, asking him to let her live, at least long enough to see me, her unborn granddaughter, graduate from High School. Well, I was born on December 1st, 1986, and soon after that, my grandmother started to get better. She lived 25 years after that, and throughout those 25 years, she made me feel as though I was her reason for living. At the same time, I have felt so privileged, knowing I was blessed by her life and I thank God for such an amazing birthday present each year. Her absence on my birthday will be the hardest thing in the world, but knowing that she passed away peacefully in her sleep, knowing that she wasn’t in pain, knowing that she wasn’t afraid, and knowing that she is in Heaven, looking down on us all from my grandfather’s arms…that is all I could wish for.


Thank you, grandma, for all that you did. You were truly amazing and you will truly be missed.