Giovanna Scaramia “Jenny”, age 92 of Wayne, died peacefully on January 27, 2010 at the Lakeview Nursing Home in Wayne.
She was born in Santa Croce Camerina, Italy , came to America as the bride of Giovanni Scaramia and settled in Paterson where she lived for forty-seven years before moving to Wayne.
Jenny was a skilled seamstress in the garment manufacturing industry in Paterson where she had worked at B & B Fashions Company and at High Fashions Corporation.
In the community where she grew up in Italy, there were no formal education requirements or opportunities and much of what she learned about reading, writing and arithmetic came from home schooling by her father. Jenny was self educated in many ways. In her youthful years, like everyone else, she had to find work to help support her family. One of the things that truly helped her was that she loved reading and that certainly contributed to her life skills.
She was gifted with an extraverted personality and by nature loved people. Those she met, in turn, welcomed her presence and as a result she had a wonderful circle of friends and family. To say the least she was an intelligent and enthusiastic conversationalist.
Giovanni, in 1959, who later became her husband, took a trip to Italy looking for a nice Italian girl to marry. He found a wonderful girl in Jenny but her parents had to make sure that he was the right person for their daughter. He went through a strict examination of his persona before her parents relented and agreed to their marriage.
Giovanni and Giovanna “Jenny” married in Italy in 1959. Giovanni had to return to America alone because he had to clear immigration papers for Jenny and she finally joined him here in Paterson, NJ in 1961. They had twenty one years of “solid and loving marriage” together until Giovanni’s passing in 1980.
She loved fashion and designed and made most of her own clothes. She also made sure her daughter Maria was wearing one of her many creations. She cooked the best veal and caponata dishes and her most amazing teste di turco, scaccie e focaccie Her Italian cookies were her most popular. Her favorite foods were cheese, bread and onions and she was the only Italian on this planet that did not like Pasta. She did love the sauce though.
She had a very deep faith in God. She went to church and prayed the rosary everyday. All were blessed by her prayers. She never spoke negative words about anyone, because she knew that no one was perfect. She was a dedicated mother and nonna. Although she forgot many things in the last couple of years. She never stopped calling for her daughter “Maria, Maria!”. She lived her life for Maria. Her focus in life was always to guide and protect her. Jenny’s faith never failed her. “She died like an angel,” commented one of the nurses who cared for her. She had no fear and her spirit will always protect those she loved.
Surviving are one daughter Maria Guarino and her husband Gerard of Wayne; three step children: Joseph Scaramia of Totowa, Giovanna Leone of Wayne and Sal Scaramia and his wife Joanne of Hawthorne, three grandchildren; Michael, Gina and Giuliana Guarino of Wayne; step grandchildren John, Josephine and Lorraine Scaramia, Josephine Mirra, Diane Opinhory, Gino, John and David Leone and Lillian.
She was predeceased by three brothers Antonio,Salvatore, and Giovanni and a sister TriesteBrancato who lived their lives in Italy; a step grandchild Maria Scaramia.
Funeral services will be held at 8 AM on January 30, 2010 from the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne then to Immaculate Heart of Mary RC Church, Wayne, where at 9 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered. Friends may visit with the family at the funeral home on Friday, January 29, 2010 from 2-4, 7-9 PM.
She will be laid to rest with her husband Giovanni at the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in Totowa.