Concettina Di Dario

Concettina (nee Abiuso) DiDario, of Wayne, PA, passed away peacefully on Tuesday, December 24, 2019 surrounded by her husband, children, grandchildren, and family companion of 3 years Lena, after a 10 year struggle with Parkinson’s Disease. Connie is survived by her loving husband of 53 years, Albert R. DiDario, her three children, Dr. A. Geoffrey (June), Jennifer (Scott Weaver), Lisa (Benjamin Landis) and her six grandchildren, Massimo and Anna DiDario, Jackson and Andy Weaver, and Isabella and Gabriella Landis. Connie was a wonderful mother, sister, aunt and grandmother, a caring friend and dedicated wife.

Connie was born on April 30, 1940 in Gambatesa, Italy. One of 8 children, she grew up within walking distance of all her extended family. Connie’s job as a 10 year old was to help clean the house and to hand make cavatelli pasta for dinner almost every night. She continued that tradition into her marriage for Albert’s birthdays and fathers’ days.

Connie emigrated to the United States in 1953 with her mother Carmella aboard the SS Independence, at the age of 13, beginning her love/hate relationship with the sea. Love because it brought her to America and hate because she was sick during the whole crossing. And though she loved the beach, she never learned to swim, claiming she sunk like a stone whenever she attempted to learn. In America she joined her brother Frank on New Jersey Avenue in Brooklyn, and was later joined by brothers Victor, Anthony, and Danny, sisters Amelia and Marie, and father Pietro. While attending William H. Maxwell Vocational High School in Brooklyn, Connie worked at a book shop which began her lifelong love affair with books. After graduating she worked as a clerk in a local bank. One day after work, her sister Amelia convinced her to take a cruise to Jamaica. Given her past experience on boats, she was not keen to go but given Amelia’s gift for persuasion she went, and it was life changing. It was on the maiden voyage of the Oceanic that she met her husband Albert R. DiDario and as they say the rest was history. Despite the inevitable sea sickness, Al won her over and they married on July 31, 1966.

They moved to Pennsylvania to start their family, first to King of Prussia and then Wayne where they resided for 21 years in a beautiful Victorian house that Connie and Al painstakingly re-furbished by hand. Connie spent her married life caring for her three children and later for her mother-in-law Margaret who lived with them for 22 years. She spent summers at their family home in Cape May and worked part time at the Radnor Memorial Library where she was able to continue to nurture her love of books. Connie co-founded the Circolo Italiano, Italian language club at Our Lady of Assumption Church and hosted monthly Italian luncheons with her Italian speaking girlfriends. She was known for her wonderful cooking and sewing skills. Everyone who met her loved her because she was kind, generous and helpful. She loved children, especially babies, and her grandchildren were all blessed by her nurturing from the first days of their lives until she passed. To know Connie was to love her and she will be sorely missed by everyone who knew her.

Relative and friends are invited to attend the funeral mass on Monday, December 30, 2019 at 11AM at Our Lady of the Assumption Church, 35 Old eagle School road, Strafford, PA. Viewing, Sunday evening 6:00PM to 8:00PM at Alleva Funeral Home, Inc., 1724 E. Lancaster Avenue, Paoli, PA 19301. And also Monday morning 10:00AM to 11:00AM in the Sacred Heart chapel of Our Lady of the Assumption Church. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in Connie’s honor to: Parkinsons Foundation www.parkinson.org 800-473-4636, 1359 Broadway, Suite 1509, New York, NY, 10018.