To the Editor:
My mother Angela cared about people, the Community Day Nursey children for 28 years, animals, Our Lady of the Assumption Church, contributing to who she felt was good, this country and, of course, Bayonne. She would be at every St. Ann’s Society meeting or event, worrying about whether or not the girls had a ride home (I know, because I drove as many as I could).
My mother always knew that at her wake and funeral, the girls would give her a send-off that could not be put into words. It was numero uno on her wish list.
The children at the Community Day Nursery, she said, were treated so well that they cried when it was time to go home. And when she would see the kids grown up at Shop-Rite, I would ask, “Who was that?” and she would respond, “They were so, so small back then.”
She carried food in her purse for animals all the time. When she was not able to get to Assumption Church, Father Joe would come to the house (as he does for a lot of parishioners). She was worried so much during the first heat wave that she called Father Joe and said that she was not available for his next visit. But the truth was, she did not want Father to go out in the heat wave. That’s her!
Any organization that asked her for a donation got one. On every holiday, my mom would put out the American flag on the railing for everyone to see. She actually had two, and said, “You never know when you need an extra.” She loved Bayonne and said it was as close to Napoli as she grew up as possible and that it was beautiful. She had to vote in every election as it was her duty. She loved being a committee-woman in Bayonne and visiting the HCDO locations to vote for chairman as well.
In my mother’s memory, the St. Ann’s Society will hold an annual fundraiser at the Chandelier on Oct. 21. Transportation to and from the event will be provided by my cousin Vinnie, owner of Bayonne Yellow Cab. For more information, call the president of the society or myself at (201) 779-6797. When I was very, very young, my mother took me along to the same fundraiser, which was held at the Assumption Church. My mother cared!
I wish to thank the St. Ann’s Society and the Our Lady of the Assumption Parish for putting my mother’s name on the wall inside the church to go along with my father’s, Raffaelle, whose name is on a building contribution plaque in the school. They would have wanted it that way.
TONY CAMPANO