Loreta Marcuccilli

Loreta was born in 1918 in Arpino, Italy, to parents Anna Maria Ranaldi and Gennaro Marcuccilli. She spent her early years in a one-room home above a stall for her family's farm animals. Though tiny in stature, she was strong and a hard worker, always looking for ways to earn money, selling homegrown fruit and vegetables in the village market and washing clothes for soldiers who inhabited her town.

She caught the eye of a gregarious young man named Alessandro Rea, who first came to her home under the guise of buying pigeons from her brother. Alessandro visited once a week until they married in 1936. When he went off to war, Loreta raised their growing family alone while farming the land.

Loreta brought her children to the United States in 1955, joining her siblings and parents who had moved to Seneca Falls, New York, and they were later joined by Alessandro. She worked as an inspector at Seneca Knit, a textile factory that produced socks (a building that now houses the National Women's Hall of Fame). She lived in the United States until 1967 before returning to Santopadre, Italy, with her husband and the youngest two of her five children.

Back in Italy, she took long walks through the village's hills, often stopping to visit her friends. She had several dogs named Billy and Bill, and several cats she didn't bother to name. She loved to raise chickens and other animals, and her property was filled with olive trees, fig trees, and other delights.

She was a devout Catholic and enjoyed attending village festas celebrating patron saints. She never passed up a chance to dance, putting her hands on her hips, her signature move.

Loreta was able to live in her own home until she was 92, and then lived with her children; first in Arce, Italy, then in Seneca Falls, New York, and for the last 13 years in Livonia, Michigan.

Often asked the secret to her longevity, she would say, "hard work and good food." She ate eggs and drank tea with plenty of lemon every morning, and ate homemade fettuccine and baby lamb chops with a cola most evenings. She never passed up a good gelato.

Quick-witted with a hearty laugh, she was a terrific storyteller, and she could remember everything that happened to her until shortly before her death from pneumonia. She referred to her four daughters and son as her “four roses and one carnation.”

Loreta was predeceased by her parents, her beloved husband, her cherished son Marco, her grandson Giovanni, as well as all of her siblings: Pasquale, Antonio, Orazio, Rocca Petti, and Philomena Bertino.

She is survived by her four daughters, Ersilia (Benito) Zagaroli of Livonia, Virginia (Thomas) Leone of Seneca Falls, Maria (Pasquale) Rea of Livonia, and Gina (Ermano Arcese) Rea of Arce, Italy. "Nonna" is also survived by her grandchildren Bruno Zagaroli of Livonia, Lisa Zagaroli of Washington, D.C., and Roberto Zagaroli of Chicago; Mary Jane (Gary) Sawall, Lore (Alan) Rossi, and Tina Rook, all of Seneca Falls; Marco Rea and Diane (Tom) Laws of Waterloo, New York; David (Kristin) Rea, Doniel Rea and Stephen (Sarah) Rea of Livonia; Alessandra (Oscar) Arcese of Argentina, Federico Arcese and Andrea Arcese of Arce, Italy. She was "nonella" to 19 great-grandchildren and seven great-great-grandchildren.

Visitation will be held on Friday, March 13, from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Harry J. Will Funeral Home, 37000 Six Mile Rd, Livonia, MI 48152, with a rosary service at 7:00 pm. Mass and interment will be held at a later date in Santopadre, Italy.