Evelyn T Pasquini

Evelyn T. Pasquini (Petrone) born May 24, 1923 in Chicago Illinois, passed away Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 in Phoenix, AZ. Evelyn moved to Phoenix with her husband Jerry in 1975 and lived in Paradise Valley and Sun City before moving to Brookdale Retirement Center in Phoenix four years ago.

In her early years, she prided herself in being one of the original Rosie the Riveters who served in the work force during the years 1941-1945 making parts for planes, and doing her part for the United States as it was going through World War II. The "103 Rosie the Riveter" book was published in 2001. A portion taken from her chapter shows her American pride, as her boyfriend served in both the Army and the Navy.

“As I begin this story, I would like to say how happy and proud I was to help our boys who were fighting and protecting the United States of America. In 1941, I worked for Johnson and Johnson making gas masks. To my surprise, were asked if we would like to volunteer to test our gas masks in an actual gas chamber. We were told if the mask had a leak, we were to flash our flashlight several times. It was just my luck – out of five girls, MY mask had a leak. Can you believe that? I then moved to Heard Bendix Corporation, which was paying higher wages, so I found myself with a new job, making carburetors for airplanes. The milling machine I ran was fifteen feet long and the carburetor weighted 25 pounds. Working at Bendix was great! On our lunch break we had a dance band. We danced for half an hour. We all sang going back to work. I sure hated leaving Bendix, but happy for the reason. My boyfriend, Jerry Pasquini, asked me to marry him, and off to California I went. “

Evelyn loved to dance, swim and above all listen to music. There was Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Big Band music playing at all times. In her later years, she became a big fan of Ricky Martin and actually saw him in concert twice. His poster hung in her kitchen for over 10 years! She was always young at heart and could still beat her two daughters in arm wrestling!

She loved her family more than anything. She had 5 brothers and sisters Laura, Al, Dolly, Lou and Albert, many nieces, nephews, great and great, great nieces and nephews. Growing up, we spent hours in our backyard with the entire family swimming, playing cards and eating, eating, and more eating!

After moving to Sun City, she worked in clothing retail at several stores. She was quite the fashionista as anyone who knew her would tell you. She always had her hair done, makeup on and looked like she walked out of a “Vogue” magazine. She even scrubbed the floors with a dress on! She started painting and doing pool exercise in Sun City. She was also a member of the Elk’s Lodge in Sun City as well as the Rosie the Riveter Club.

She is preceded in death by her husband of more than 54 years, Jerry Pasquini.

She is survived by her two daughters, G Pelliteri of Paradise Valley, AZ and Sher Pasquini of Santa Clairita, CA. She will be dearly missed by her entire family. The Brookdale residents and caregivers have truly been an inspiration, and we thank them for their loyalty and kindness to Evelyn the last four years.

Funeral Services will be held:

Saturday, January 28th, 2012

Sunland Memorial Park

15826 Del Webb Blvd. Sun City AZ 85351

623-933-1061

www.sunlandmemorial.com

11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Visitation in the chapel

1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Memorial Service

2p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Gravesite service

3:30 to 6:30 Family/Friend Visitation at G Pelliteri’s home in Paradise Valley.

Please RSVP to [email protected] or 480-459-5270 if you will be attending the home visitation. Directions will be given at that time.

Arrangements under the direction of Sunland Memorial Park, Mortuary & Cremation Center, Sun City, AZ.