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Services
A Memorial Mass will be offered at Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, beginning at 10:00 AM. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington.
Frances Ditullio, age 95, of Wayne, passed peacefully, with her family by her side, on Friday, August 26, 2016.
Shortly after birth in Bethlehem, PA, Frances’ family moved to Kearny. In that era, plenty of Kearny families raised chickens and grew their own produce. Frances’ family was no exception. Consequently, while her family eventually came to purchase their eggs from the grocery store, Frances developed a life-long appreciation of gardening and her family always enjoyed fresh vegetables.
As a young lady, Frances learned another valuable skill. Her mom was a seamstress and she taught Frances everything she knew about sewing and employed her in her home sewing business. Frances became very skilled with needle and thread. Making patterns from newspaper, she could sew anything and, throughout her life she sewed various prom, wedding dresses, school uniforms, curtains for her home, and alter garments for the Altar boys at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kearny. When World War II came, Frances got a job as an electronics assembler with Western Electric.
Frances met her husband-to-be when she was quite young. After all, they only lived two doors down from each other growing up in Kearny. When she was twenty-two, she and Frank exchanged their wedding vows before their families and friends, on Sunday, August 29, 1943, at St. Cecilia R.C. Church - right near their homes in Kearny. After their wedding, they moved in with his parents at 281 Bergen Ave. in Kearny. They took the upstairs apartment and his parents lived downstairs. In the early years of their marriage, Frank had a photography business called Dee’s Studio. Frances helped him run the business, handling the books and coloring in the photos for those that wanted colorized portraits.
A lot of memories were made in that house on Bergen Ave over the span of forty-nine years that Frances lived there. It became the hub of many life activities that were typically within walking distance of home. Frances and Frank were blessed with children – five of them in all! Her children, and later in life, her grandchildren, were her greatest blessing. Frances’ sole motivation was to provide a welcoming home for her family and, along with some discipline and guidance, she mixed a little bit of love into everything she did. She was an excellent cook and baker. Her specialty was making delicious pies and, especially on holidays, the delectable “Frances-baked” fruit pies and cream pies would all be lined up, emitting the most delicious aroma throughout her home. Everyone couldn’t wait to eat!
In the summertime, as soon as her kids were finished with school, Frances would take them to the family summer home on Lake Winona in Jefferson Township where the whole family would spend the entire summer. Frances couldn’t swim but she spent plenty of time dipping her toes in the water, wading and talking with the other mothers. She was also instrumental in forming the Lake Winona Club of which she served as a trustee. They built this great clubhouse for the kids, and her own children recall movie nights at that clubhouse and being recruited by Mom to pop tons of popcorn in their own house which they would sell at movie night for five cents a bag. Of course the price of admission to the movie was always free.
When Frances and Frank’s oldest son Frank, started college, Frances returned to the workplace.
She worked for Economy Book Binding Company located, of course, within walking distance of the house. She worked there for ten years but decided to call it quits when the blessing of grandchildren came along. She was a good Grandma who made it fun for her grandchildren by
cooking with them, teaching them to sew, and walking them to Franklin School, which was almost right across the street from her house. At noontime, those grandchildren would always come home from school to Grandma Frances for a home-prepared lunch.
Frances was the consummate “greatest generation,” hard-working, industrious homemaker who believed that humans were better at hanging clothes on a clothesline and drying dishes with a towel than any clothes dryer or dishwasher could ever be at performing such tasks. And when it came to watching television she’d say, “Who needs remote controls? My kids can change the channels for me!” Kenmore, Whirlpool, and Zenith companies would have been out of business if everyone thought like Frances. When it was time to wax the linoleum floor in the kitchen, she’d pull out this industrial-sized buffer, big enough to wax the floor of a school cafeteria. Frances ran the show at home and took the role of general contractor when a former tenant moved out downstairs and a new one was moving in. She’d get Frank and all her kids involved in renovations and any improvements that she felt needed to be done.
Frances was always a dedicated parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kearny. Shortly after Frank’s passing in late 1990, she moved to Wayne to live with her daughter Joyce and son-in-law Jim. From that time on, she joined them at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Wayne.
Frances was the beloved wife for 49 blessed years of the late Frank Ditullio (1990); loving mother of Joyce and husband Jim Testa of Wayne, Kent and wife Joan Ditullio of East Stroudsburg, PA, Mark Ditullio, Esq. and wife Jessica of Bexley, OH; the late Joan Romanick and the late Frank Ditullio; cherished grandmother of: Father Brian, Matthew, Anthony, James, Michael, Jonathan, Kristine, Frank, and Harry; adored great-grandmother of Rocco, Bruno, Emilia, and Matthew; dear sister of Josephine McEwen of North Arlington, and Sam Bruzzi of Paramus.
If you would like to send a private condolence directly to the family use this condolence section.
A Memorial Mass will be offered at Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, beginning at 10:00 AM. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington.
Services
A Memorial Mass will be offered at Our Lady of the Valley RC Church, 630 Valley Road, Wayne, on Wednesday, August 31, 2016, beginning at 10:00 AM. Please meet directly at the church. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, North Arlington.
Frances Ditullio, age 95, of Wayne, passed peacefully, with her family by her side, on Friday, August 26, 2016.
Shortly after birth in Bethlehem, PA, Frances’ family moved to Kearny. In that era, plenty of Kearny families raised chickens and grew their own produce. Frances’ family was no exception. Consequently, while her family eventually came to purchase their eggs from the grocery store, Frances developed a life-long appreciation of gardening and her family always enjoyed fresh vegetables.
As a young lady, Frances learned another valuable skill. Her mom was a seamstress and she taught Frances everything she knew about sewing and employed her in her home sewing business. Frances became very skilled with needle and thread. Making patterns from newspaper, she could sew anything and, throughout her life she sewed various prom, wedding dresses, school uniforms, curtains for her home, and alter garments for the Altar boys at Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kearny. When World War II came, Frances got a job as an electronics assembler with Western Electric.
Frances met her husband-to-be when she was quite young. After all, they only lived two doors down from each other growing up in Kearny. When she was twenty-two, she and Frank exchanged their wedding vows before their families and friends, on Sunday, August 29, 1943, at St. Cecilia R.C. Church - right near their homes in Kearny. After their wedding, they moved in with his parents at 281 Bergen Ave. in Kearny. They took the upstairs apartment and his parents lived downstairs. In the early years of their marriage, Frank had a photography business called Dee’s Studio. Frances helped him run the business, handling the books and coloring in the photos for those that wanted colorized portraits.
A lot of memories were made in that house on Bergen Ave over the span of forty-nine years that Frances lived there. It became the hub of many life activities that were typically within walking distance of home. Frances and Frank were blessed with children – five of them in all! Her children, and later in life, her grandchildren, were her greatest blessing. Frances’ sole motivation was to provide a welcoming home for her family and, along with some discipline and guidance, she mixed a little bit of love into everything she did. She was an excellent cook and baker. Her specialty was making delicious pies and, especially on holidays, the delectable “Frances-baked” fruit pies and cream pies would all be lined up, emitting the most delicious aroma throughout her home. Everyone couldn’t wait to eat!
In the summertime, as soon as her kids were finished with school, Frances would take them to the family summer home on Lake Winona in Jefferson Township where the whole family would spend the entire summer. Frances couldn’t swim but she spent plenty of time dipping her toes in the water, wading and talking with the other mothers. She was also instrumental in forming the Lake Winona Club of which she served as a trustee. They built this great clubhouse for the kids, and her own children recall movie nights at that clubhouse and being recruited by Mom to pop tons of popcorn in their own house which they would sell at movie night for five cents a bag. Of course the price of admission to the movie was always free.
When Frances and Frank’s oldest son Frank, started college, Frances returned to the workplace.
She worked for Economy Book Binding Company located, of course, within walking distance of the house. She worked there for ten years but decided to call it quits when the blessing of grandchildren came along. She was a good Grandma who made it fun for her grandchildren by
cooking with them, teaching them to sew, and walking them to Franklin School, which was almost right across the street from her house. At noontime, those grandchildren would always come home from school to Grandma Frances for a home-prepared lunch.
Frances was the consummate “greatest generation,” hard-working, industrious homemaker who believed that humans were better at hanging clothes on a clothesline and drying dishes with a towel than any clothes dryer or dishwasher could ever be at performing such tasks. And when it came to watching television she’d say, “Who needs remote controls? My kids can change the channels for me!” Kenmore, Whirlpool, and Zenith companies would have been out of business if everyone thought like Frances. When it was time to wax the linoleum floor in the kitchen, she’d pull out this industrial-sized buffer, big enough to wax the floor of a school cafeteria. Frances ran the show at home and took the role of general contractor when a former tenant moved out downstairs and a new one was moving in. She’d get Frank and all her kids involved in renovations and any improvements that she felt needed to be done.
Frances was always a dedicated parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Church in Kearny. Shortly after Frank’s passing in late 1990, she moved to Wayne to live with her daughter Joyce and son-in-law Jim. From that time on, she joined them at Our Lady of the Valley Church in Wayne.
Frances was the beloved wife for 49 blessed years of the late Frank Ditullio (1990); loving mother of Joyce and husband Jim Testa of Wayne, Kent and wife Joan Ditullio of East Stroudsburg, PA, Mark Ditullio, Esq. and wife Jessica of Bexley, OH; the late Joan Romanick and the late Frank Ditullio; cherished grandmother of: Father Brian, Matthew, Anthony, James, Michael, Jonathan, Kristine, Frank, and Harry; adored great-grandmother of Rocco, Bruno, Emilia, and Matthew; dear sister of Josephine McEwen of North Arlington, and Sam Bruzzi of Paramus.
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