She was one of the most positive people we ever knew. She told us: “You can do anything you put your mind to.” It was just a matter of deciding what you wanted, and then working to make it happen. No doubts about it. When we were overwhelmed with difficult circumstances, she told us to “take it one day at a time” instead of allowing ourselves to be overcome by the magnitude of it all.
Born Marilyn Juditha Pellegrini on January 17, 1930 to Adelina “Nellie” (Alitto) Pellegrini and Achille “Kelly” Pellegrini, she was the youngest of their three children.
Like others of her generation, she endured 12 years of the Great Depression, and 4 years of WWII, sacrificing so much. Her family was part of a multitude of working poor where she grew up in Chicago.
Her father had emigrated from Italy at the age of 17, meeting our grandmother in America. Mom grew up speaking Italian, but gradually forgot her language when she had to learn English in school.
When she was 15, Mom met the love of her life: our dad, Rudolph C’Dealva. She married him at 18 and then spent more than 70 years taking care of him and our family, before our father passed on in 2018. It is no surprise that she missed him so deeply these last 2 years.
Mom was very good at a variety of different activities and interests she enjoyed:
She tap danced as a little girl, and later learned various ballroom dances as a teenager with our dad. They delighted us with a jitterbug routine that was astonishing in its speed and complexity and joy, even into the 1990’s.
She was a master cook, and loved creating delicious meals and dinners for our nuclear family, and for our extended Italian and Spanish families.
She was skilled at knitting, crochet, macramé, and needlepoint.
She was a voracious reader, going through enough books to fill three lifetimes. Our father was constantly updating, remodeling, building, or moving bookshelves in our house to accommodate her need for wonder, adventure, education or inspiration.
Needing to get into the workforce to provide additional support for 4 children, she worked at Pacific Drive-In Theaters for 10 years or more. Mom made her way up from snack bar attendant, to snack bar manager, to swing manager, and finally to manager of the Sepulveda Drive-In. Our family was very happy to see countless free movies in the 1960’s and 1970’s as a perk of our mom’s profession.
She later worked at Data Products as a purchasing coordinator, took several courses at the West Valley Occupational Center to learn additional skills, and spent 30 years as a travel coordinator for the St. Mel’s Adult Club. Traveling with our dad, she was able to take the club members all over the world, all over the country, or to special bus trips at local venues. She said that this period was the happiest time of her life.
Throughout the years, she weathered several health challenges. Among them: she had to have two knee replacements and two hip replacements at various times in her life. We liked to point out that she was “bionic.”
Mom’s laughter was contagious, setting us all off, helpless to be able to stop for several minutes.
Mom was part of an extremely important decision back in 1956: she and her two siblings, with their spouses, bought some land in Woodland Hills and agreed that they would have six houses built there: three for their families and three to rent out. The “family property” allowed us to have instant access to our Grandma “Nellie”, and our aunts, uncles, and cousins during our childhood and into our adulthood. We were so blessed.
Mom and Dad had married in 1948 at St. Mel Church in Chicago. When they later moved to Los Angeles with our sister, they were surprised to find a new parish (without a permanent church building), also called St. Mel. Mom joined their St. Michael’s Women’s Guild and spent many years fundraising to build and maintain the new church and the grade school. They were part of a group of “founders families.”
Mom went to mass every Sunday with our dad for more than six decades, until it became too hard for her to walk from the car into the church, even with a walker. She received a final blessing and communion from our former pastor, (Monsignor) Father Loftus, a week before she passed on. Her faith was strong.
We are comforted in knowing that Mom has at last been reunited with our dad. Their song was “Till the End of Time.” We imagine they are dancing together again among the stars.
She leaves behind her four children, whom she loved fiercely: Faith, Hope, Glory, and Rudy Jr. She said that raising us was her greatest achievement. She also dearly loved her grandchildren: Zen, Jordan, Adelina, Adriana, and Noble.
Thank you, Mom, for everything. We love you, and we will always love you.
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