Rosmonda DeFelice

"Are we in Blairsville? Are my parents here? Is your Dad here?", she asked. Rick answered, “Mom, we're in Baltimore and Dad and your parents aren't here. They're in a better place." Satisfied with his answer, Rosmonda busied herself arranging items on a table. Moments later, she queried him with the same line of questions but Rick’s answer remained the same.

Dementia has a sneaky way of stealing bits of memory year by year, day by day, hour by hour, minute by minute. It can erase a lifetime of memories with a wide, sweeping brushstroke. Entire chapters of a real life novel are edited as if they had never been written. The disease, however, sometimes has the dignity and compassion to leave the most treasured memories unharmed.

Rosmonda Mormoni was the born in 1930 to Italian immigrants, Ubaldo, a coal miner, and Genoveffa, a seamstress, in Blairsville, Pennsylvania. She later became a big sister to her beloved Pierina. Her Italian heritage was obviously in her DNA but it was more than a bloodline, it defined her. She spoke the language fluently and eloquently, mastered the family recipes and learned everything about the old country. She was a student by nature, avidly reading, studying and documenting anything of interest.

She lived in Blairsville until she met and married her husband in 1953. In a found transcript she writes, “On a Saturday evening in the autumn of 1951…… a young man came up to me and asked me to dance. His name was Orlando DeFelice. For the next three Saturdays, he would drive me and my friends home. Each time he dropped us off he would ask me for a date. I would say, " no”. You could argue that it wasn’t love at first dance, but eventually Orlando swept her off her feet and whisked her to Maryland to begin their life together.

Baltimore is where they would eventually put down roots and raise their family of four: Orlando, Norma Gene, Donna Marie and finally, Richard completed their family and shaped their lives. Next to her Catholic faith, her family was everything. She strived to instill “all things Italian” in her children and while she wasn’t successful teaching them the language she did manage to convince them that Italian food was the only food worth eating. After her children could stand on their own she worked as an administrative assistant at Notre Dame School of nursing and later joined her husband at Allied-Signal. Her impeccable organizational skills, her perfectly polished appearance and attention to detail made her a valuable employee at the company until retirement.

Her years were not without sorrow as she had to bear the sudden loss of her youngest daughter, Donna Marie, and witness the long time suffering of her late son, Orlando. Her grandchildren; Nicholas, Lauren, Jonathan, Danielle and Marissa helped to fill the void, bringing her much joy and purpose in their formative years. Great grandchildren Caleb, Arianna, Alex, Georgia and Elliott added to her life’s story.

For those she left behind, Rosmonda DeFelice will long be remembered as a woman that was devout to her faith and family. A woman that was exceedingly kind, sweet, accepting and forgiving. A woman that gave unselfishly and without expectations of anything in return.

We can assume with some certainty that Rosmonda has been reunited with her parents, her daughter, her son and the young man that swept her off her feet. Today, Rosmonda, you know with certainty the answers to your own questions. You are together. You are in a better place.

Susan DeFelice