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March 23, 2012
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM on Thursday, March 29 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
Anna M. Grochowski, age 99, died peacefully at home on Friday, March 23, 2012. Her family was at her bedside.
Anna was born in Paterson, the seventh child to Michael and Celeste Ferrazzano, and was one of thirteen children in her family. Her birth was nothing shy of miraculous in many ways, as a terrible blizzard had socked in the whole city of Paterson and a midwife delivered her at home. Due to complications during her birth, they didn’t expect little baby Anna to survive and she was given Last Rights soon after being born. They could have never imagined she would live to be 99 years old. In fact, Anna used to frequently say “why am I still here?” and after reaching 90 years old, she reasoned that God may have forgotten about her or perhaps God thought she had died at birth. None the less, Anna had a very strong faith in Jesus Christ and a devotion to the Blessed Mother. That strong faith resounded through her family and two of her sisters became nuns.
Anna began working at a very young age at the Mcinerney Manufacturing Company in Passaic. She made the springs that went into automobile seats. One of her fellow workers, Joseph Grochowski, used to drive her to work. She didn’t like him, quite frankly, but didn’t mind commuting with him. Joe eventually asked her on a date and she agreed, under one condition; he had to get himself a new suit and look presentable before she would go out with him. He did, and the rest is history, so to speak, and the two of them enjoyed twenty years together before Joe’s untimely passing in 1964. She often said how lucky she felt because he was the best husband she could have ever wanted.
Anna used to love to go dancing and Rutt’s Hut was one of her favorite places to dance the night away. She was such a good seamstress too, that she would make herself a new dress every time she went. She never used a pattern, she didn’t need to, she would simply buy some nice fabric, go home and cut it up, and within a few hours she would have a beautiful dress. She also made the wedding dress and bride’s maid’s dresses for her daughter’s wedding. She crocheted blankets for all her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and some extras for the babies still to come. She wanted them to always be wrapped in her love and prayers, which were sewn into the fabric of everything she made. She also knitted hats to be sent to the homeless. She was very talented, kind, caring and full of love.
She had a huge heart and seemingly took care of everyone. Kind and generous, she always had various people living in her home that she would take care of, yet she was fiercely independent. She loved her family dearly and along with her siblings, she maintained the “Brothers and Sisters Club”, made up simply of her brothers and sisters. They would play cards for nickels and dimes, and enjoy holidays and family occasions together. She loved going to Atlantic City and look forward to her trips there throughout the year. Her motto was “move it or lose it” and she practiced that day in and day out. There was never any moss growing under her feet and from her shaky beginnings, as a baby that wasn’t supposed to survive more than a few days, she ultimately outlived all of her twelve siblings.
Anna is survived by her two daughters; Joann Mosley of Manahawkin, and Pattie-Jo Tripp of Wayne, three grandchildren; Lea Mosley-Jones and her husband Ryehean of Michigan, Christopher Tripp and his wife Marie of Pompton Plains, and Matthew Tripp and his wife Erin of Middlesex, NJ, and four great-grandchildren; Devin and Nathan Jones of Michigan, and Ryan and Alexandra Tripp of Pompton Plains
As expressions of sympathy, if friends so wish, donations may be made in Anna’s memory to Passaic Valley Hopsice, 783 Riverview Drive, P.O. Box 1007, Totowa, NJ 07511-9981, or to the Sisters of St. Lucy Filippini, Villa Walsh Infirmary, 455 Western Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM on Thursday, March 29 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
March 23, 2012
Services
Friends may visit with the family at the Vander May Wayne Colonial Funeral Home, 567 Ratzer Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, March 28, 2012 from 2-4 & 7-9 PM. Funeral Services will be held at 8:30 AM on Thursday, March 29 from the funeral home, then to Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, Wayne, where at 9:30 AM a Funeral Mass will be offered.
Anna M. Grochowski, age 99, died peacefully at home on Friday, March 23, 2012. Her family was at her bedside.
Anna was born in Paterson, the seventh child to Michael and Celeste Ferrazzano, and was one of thirteen children in her family. Her birth was nothing shy of miraculous in many ways, as a terrible blizzard had socked in the whole city of Paterson and a midwife delivered her at home. Due to complications during her birth, they didn’t expect little baby Anna to survive and she was given Last Rights soon after being born. They could have never imagined she would live to be 99 years old. In fact, Anna used to frequently say “why am I still here?” and after reaching 90 years old, she reasoned that God may have forgotten about her or perhaps God thought she had died at birth. None the less, Anna had a very strong faith in Jesus Christ and a devotion to the Blessed Mother. That strong faith resounded through her family and two of her sisters became nuns.
Anna began working at a very young age at the Mcinerney Manufacturing Company in Passaic. She made the springs that went into automobile seats. One of her fellow workers, Joseph Grochowski, used to drive her to work. She didn’t like him, quite frankly, but didn’t mind commuting with him. Joe eventually asked her on a date and she agreed, under one condition; he had to get himself a new suit and look presentable before she would go out with him. He did, and the rest is history, so to speak, and the two of them enjoyed twenty years together before Joe’s untimely passing in 1964. She often said how lucky she felt because he was the best husband she could have ever wanted.
Anna used to love to go dancing and Rutt’s Hut was one of her favorite places to dance the night away. She was such a good seamstress too, that she would make herself a new dress every time she went. She never used a pattern, she didn’t need to, she would simply buy some nice fabric, go home and cut it up, and within a few hours she would have a beautiful dress. She also made the wedding dress and bride’s maid’s dresses for her daughter’s wedding. She crocheted blankets for all her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and some extras for the babies still to come. She wanted them to always be wrapped in her love and prayers, which were sewn into the fabric of everything she made. She also knitted hats to be sent to the homeless. She was very talented, kind, caring and full of love.
She had a huge heart and seemingly took care of everyone. Kind and generous, she always had various people living in her home that she would take care of, yet she was fiercely independent. She loved her family dearly and along with her siblings, she maintained the “Brothers and Sisters Club”, made up simply of her brothers and sisters. They would play cards for nickels and dimes, and enjoy holidays and family occasions together. She loved going to Atlantic City and look forward to her trips there throughout the year. Her motto was “move it or lose it” and she practiced that day in and day out. There was never any moss growing under her feet and from her shaky beginnings, as a baby that wasn’t supposed to survive more than a few days, she ultimately outlived all of her twelve siblings.
Anna is survived by her two daughters; Joann Mosley of Manahawkin, and Pattie-Jo Tripp of Wayne, three grandchildren; Lea Mosley-Jones and her husband Ryehean of Michigan, Christopher Tripp and his wife Marie of Pompton Plains, and Matthew Tripp and his wife Erin of Middlesex, NJ, and four great-grandchildren; Devin and Nathan Jones of Michigan, and Ryan and Alexandra Tripp of Pompton Plains
As expressions of sympathy, if friends so wish, donations may be made in Anna’s memory to Passaic Valley Hopsice, 783 Riverview Drive, P.O. Box 1007, Totowa, NJ 07511-9981, or to the Sisters of St. Lucy Filippini, Villa Walsh Infirmary, 455 Western Avenue, Morristown, NJ 07960.
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