MARY ELIZABETH (CONSTANZO) PELLEGRINO

We all know my mom Mary Elizabeth Pellegrino in some aspect of our lives. I am sure many of you know much more about my
mom than I do. But we are here today to celebrate her life. So, I would like to describe her life through the eyes of her son.

A few months ago, we celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ. Our Lord God decided to send his son to earth and live among us.
His purpose was to teach us how to Love and Forgive, and treat people with Integrity and Respect. To do this he picked the earthly
parents of his son Jesus (Mary and Joseph). They were young but most important, they had to be able to believe and trust in God. 
God continues to make that decision for everyone even today. We don’t choose what family we are born into. God chooses for us.
He looks down on earth and sees all the fetuses that need a spirit and soul, and makes that choice for us based on a reason that
we may not know for some time. But He has a plan for us. I believe Mark Twain once said, “The two most important days of your
life are when we are born and when we find out why”. Mothers are special. They are meant to extend God’s love for us to their
children and children’s children. They are the core of the family which is the building block of all human civilization. The family
atmosphere teaches Love, Forgiveness, Integrity and Respect and many other virtues. Mothers are the core of these values with
full support from the fathers, and they pass those values to their children.

The family the Lord picked for my mom was the union of Lorenzo Salvatore Costanza and Maria Concialdi. They were both born in
Alia, Sicily. They immigrated to the United States and on 21 April 1911 aboard the German Passenger ship Konig Albert. Between
the two of them, they had $120 in their pocket. Lorenzo was 31 years old and Maria was 18. They initially travelled to Chicago
Illinois and then to Forsyth, Montana. There Lorenzo acquired a job working on the railway. While in Montana, Maria gave birth
to three children, Josephine in 1912, Phil in 1913 and Joseph in 1915. I can remember my grandmother saying she was so scared
in Montana, that's when Indians would look through their windows, she would hide the kids under the bed. She finally convinced
my grandfather to move to St. Louis. A job at the Standard Oil company brought them to Wood River. Then October 21, 1920,
my mom Mary Elizabeth was born.

Just to give you a current history of USA in 1920, here are a few facts.
• U.S. Post Office Department rules children may not be sent by parcel post.
• Women in the US won the right to vote.
• Life expectancy was 54 years.
• A new house cost $6,300.
• The average income was $2,200 per year.
• A new car cost $525
• Gasoline cost 13 cents/gallon.

The Costanzo family (Josephine, Phil, Joseph and Mary) were now included in the first generation of immigrants in the US. They
lived in the part of Wood River better known as Little Italy. It was a melting pot of immigrants from all parts of Europe including
Italy, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Croatia, and Slovenia. Many languages were spoken their but they all got along. The Costanzo
family of six lived in a house shared by another family on S. Main Street. She never told us much about her younger days on
S. Main other than she was very close to her sister Josephine. When the children were old enough to somewhat take care of
themselves, Maria got a job at the Tannery in Hartford making shoes and boots. Eventually the Costanzo family moved from
Little Italy to 27 West Penning in Wood River. They were moving up.

After my mom graduated from grade school, she contracted Tuberculosis or better known as TB. Mom could remember coughing
up blood into a pan that her mother held in front of her. She had chest pain, fever, chills, night sweats, weight loss and loss of
appetite. Since TB was a very contagious disease, part of the treatment was isolation, and fresh air in the sun. So, they sent her
to the sanitarium in Edwardsville. She could remember her family visiting her. After 9 months in the sanitarium, she ended up
with a collapsed lung and easily fatigued. She said her brother Phil encouraged her to go back to High School and graduate. She
tried it but with a collapsed lung she couldn’t keep up with the other kids going up and down stairs and changing classes in the
building. So, she dropped out of high school and never went back. She stayed at home and kept house while her mother and
father continued to work. Even though TB is an airborne disease and very contagious, the rest of the family was tested and
somehow she was the only one infected. The Costanzo family move from the duplex house on South Main to 27 West Penning in
Wood River. They had really moved up in the world, they no longer lived in Little Italy.

How did mom meet dad? Well, she told us she was walking down the street in downtown Wood River with two girlfriends. They
were across the street from the Wood River Bowling Alley and a few pin boys were outside taking a break. Dad was one of the
pin boys. He told us, as soon as he saw mom he knew she was the girl he wanted to marry. Well, dad somehow found out mom’s
name and where she lived. He wrote a love letter and told her he wanted to date her. Mom and dad told us they went on many
dates but always chaperoned be either mom’s sister Josephine or dad’s sister Lucy. On every date the chaperone always sat in
between them, while driving or at the movie theater. So as things moved along, they were married on April 19, 1942 in
Saint Bernard’s Church during WWII.

The family that mom chose to marry into also lived in Little Italy. My dad’s parents were also Italian immigrants from Marsala,
Sicily. Dad had 3 brothers and 4 sisters and were also first-generation immigrants. So yes, it was a large wedding. On the
Costanzo side, I had 6 aunts and uncles. On the Pellegrino side I had 14 aunts and uncles. Yes, a lot of names to remember.
And then there were all the cousins. I lost count.

Dad graduated from high school and went to work for Olin Matheson in East Alton as a machinist. Olin Matheson at that time
was manufacturing ammunition. As important as that job was to the war effort, Dad was drafted into the Army in 1944.
He served under General Patton in Europe until his discharge after the war had ended in September 1945. My mom gave birth
to me while dad was somewhere in Europe. I was born in January 1945. Mom gave birth to me without her husband at her side.
I was 9 months old when dad saw his son for the first time. Many years later, dad told me as he was on the troop ship headed
to European Campaign, passing the Statue of Liberty, he prayed to God that if he was blessed to return and see the Statue of
Liberty again, he would never leave the states again. He kept that promise. He and mom now determined to build a life and
family after the war.

Dad went back to work for Olin Matheson and mom ran the house. With such a large first-generation family and the end of the
war, everyone wanted a house to raise their family. In that regard our family of Uncles and Aunts started building homes for
each other. Uncle Joe Pellegrino was the first house constructed in 1946 to 1948, my families house in 1948 to 1949, Uncle 
Jim Pellegrino house in 1950 to1951, Uncle Paul Magurani house in 1952 to 1953 and then Uncle Joe Pellegrino second house
in 1955 to 1956. Then a complete renovation of the Costanzo family home in 1959 to 1960. During this time of home
construction and reconstruction for both families, the mothers held the family life together as the fathers were working full time
jobs and building houses in their spare time during the week and weekends.

My mom and all my aunts had a lot of responsibility and duties they had to perform on their own. During that time a few things
stick out in my memory. Even though both mom and dad could speak Italian they never spoke it to us kids. The only spoken
language with us kids was English. Secondly, even though we grew up eating and loving home-made Italian bread, mom would
 only send us to school with our lunch sandwich made out of store-bought bread. It took some time for me to realize they were
doing this to assure we did not stand out at school with our classmates. They wanted us to blend in with everyone else at school
and not look or sound like immigrants.

After I married my wonderful wife JoAnn and graduated from college. I started my first job with a company that required us to
move frequently. We started my career in San Francisco, then Pennsylvania, San Francisco, Pennsylvania again, then Montana,
New Jersey, Texas, Malaysia, Texas, then finishing my career in England. In all of our travels we made a point of keeping mom
and dad in our families lives with at least yearly trips back to Wood River. Mom and dad likewise made frequent trips to visit us
(except for Malaysia and England) to stay part of my family. Dad kept his promise to God that he made in 1944 not to leave the
United States. Mom and dad made most of their trips to see us by car. At some time, mom developed a back issue and for road
trips dad had to have a place for mom to stretch out to keep her back from hurting. But they still continued to make road trips
and visit us.

While we were in Montana, JoAnn and I were the 1970’s version of Rip and Beth Dutton. If you believe that, I have a slightly used
train station I would like to sell you. Only a few skeletons in the closet.

If you knew my mom, you may wounder if she ever showed any bad temper to anyone. Well, I can attest to one incident.
While in Montana, mom and dad were with us for a visit, so I rented a cabin for a long weekend just outside of Yellowstone
National Park. The cabin was just north of the park in Montana. The cabin was a little rustic to say the least. It was in May so we
still had snow on the ground but most of it was gone. The cabin had running water from a creek above the cabin. Of course, dad
and I had to follow the 1” pvc pipe back up the hill to clear the ice and reinsert the pipe back into the pool of water at the inlet.
The cabin had one bedroom, a wood burning fireplace for heat and a wood burning cook stove. They told us all kinds of stories
about cooking on a wood burning stove when they lived at home with their parents. So, wood stove cooking was not new to them.
I guess mom got inspired and she decided to make a cake from scratch. After she put all the ingredients together, she announced
to everyone not to shake the floor next to the stove or the cake would not rise. About 10 or 15 minutes later, dad decided the 
stove needed more wood to keep it at the correct temperature. So, dad brought some wood logs inside with a hand axe and
proceeded to do the log splitting on the floor next to the stove. Well, that was BIG mistake. Even though dad had good intentions,
it was the wrong thing to do. And we all heard about it. Yes, mom did have a temper. And we then new not to cross that line. The
cake did turn out good only a little flatter than intended. But it was the best tasting cake we ever had. It had to be.

I am sure you know both mom and dad were avid bowlers. They both belonged to competitive teams and tried to win money. My
dad was on a team with his brothers and brother in laws. Mom was also on a lady’s team. As the years went along and bodies got
a little achy, they both shifted their competitiveness to Bingo. They both loved socialization and enjoyed the competition. My mom
continued playing bingo until she could not see the numbers anymore. She always encouraged us kids to compete in some sport.
In my line of work and demands, I never had time to compete in any sport unless it was a company softball team. And that didn’t
last very long. Eventually after I retired, I got interested in golf. I now belong to a senior’s league and we golf once a week at
different courses throughout the year. We put in $15 for prize money and sometimes I win and many more times I don’t. But that
never stopped her from asking me every week what my score was and if I won any money. My score was usually in the high 90’s
and sometimes triple digits. I had to explain to her that the lower score was better, not the higher score, like baseball, football or
bowling. She kept up with the professional PGA scores on the weekend TV tournaments and she knew I was never even close.
Finally, after 18 years of checking on my game every week, last year she told me “Dan, you’re not getting any better at this are 
you?” So even from my own mom when she was 104 years old, still gave me a rough time.
 
As the years went by in our daily phone calls, she always asked how the family was doing. She wanted to keep up with everyone.
And now we no longer have a daily phone call to make. But she will always live on in our hearts. Because of her, I feel the entire
family has learned how to love, how to give forgiveness, and we are living our lives with integrity and respect for others. So, many
years ago when God answered her prayers for why she was born, she can now say mission accomplished. And now she is back
with all the family of first-generation immigrants.

Thank you for coming to celebrate her life. May God be with you all.

As I was writing this paper, it came to me that I could title it, “The LAST of the First, ALMOST”. Meaning the last of the first
generation of immigrants for the Costanzo/Pellegrino family, almost. Out of my 20 Aunts and Uncles, I have one remaining.
My Aunt Phyllis Pellegrino. She is 99 years old and still going strong.
We all love you Aunt Phyllis.