Antonetta (Corso) Wysocki passed to Heaven on September 8, 2021. A mom, grandma, and great grandma, she lived an extraordinary life and was fully ready to answer God’s call to reunite with other family and friends in His Kingdom.
Antonetta was born on April 10, 1924, in Castelbottaccio, a small mountain village in the Molise region of Italy. She grew up with her mother and brother, as her father had immigrated years earlier to America to work in coal mines and then ultimately for the Ford Motor Company in Detroit. He sent his earnings home to sustain the family, making periodic trips to see his wife and children grow. Those visits and his support were interrupted when the German Army swept into Italy at the outset of WWII. Her dreams to become a teacher were dashed with the German occupation and the ensuing Allied campaign to liberate Italy. But those events led her to meet her future husband, George Wysocki, who was a soldier in the Polish Corps of the British 8th Army during the months-long Battle of Monte Cassino.
Following the war, her husband-to-be found his way to an Italian community in Canada, sponsored by his future father-in-law! Soon afterwards, Antonetta and her mother immigrated to Canada, and in 1949, she and George were married in Windsor, Ontario. Years later, she and George and their two young children, Anne and Joseph, were finally allowed to immigrate to the US, where they initially settled in Detroit. In the late 1950s, they moved to the new suburb of Dearborn Heights, where two other daughters, Linda and Lisa, were born—and where they finally became US citizens.
Antonetta was proud of her Italian heritage, but even more proud to be an American. She was intent on learning the language and culture of her new home country. She was a homemaker, working diligently to maintain a stable family environment that often involved weekend dinners with Italian relatives and friends. After the passing of her husband in 1987, Antonetta found joy in traveling with her daughters and visiting her son and his family in various parts of the country. In her later years, undeniably her most joyful, she enjoyed regular visits with her sister-in-law, Clara Corso, along with the friendships and activities at Walton Woods, an independent living community in Novi, Michigan.
Her life experiences instilled her children with the values of faith, commitment, loyalty, hard-work, and love. Perhaps foremost, by example she taught her children that even on their worst of days, life is still pretty good compared to what she and her husband had to experience in their lives. This sense of optimism and appreciation for what we have in our families and our country form her family legacy.
Antonetta was preceded in death by her father (Joseph Corso), her mother (Addolorata De Oto Corso), her husband George, and her brother, Michele. She is survived by daughters Anne (Robert Hutchins), Linda (Andrew Charniga), and Lisa (Mark Eiden), son Joseph (Julie), sister-in-law Clara Corso, grandchildren Kimberly, Michael, Kelly, Catherine, and Jacqueline, great grandchildren, Brailey Rose and James Joseph, and niece Grace (Les) Shapiro.
Visitation for Antonetta will be held Friday, September 17, 2021 from 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM with a rosary at 7:00 PM at Harry J Will Funeral Home in Livonia. A funeral mass will occur Saturday, September 18, 2021 at 11:00 AM (in state 10:30AM) at Church of the Holy Family, 24505 Meadowbrook Road, Novi, MI 48375.
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