Italina Citro

Italina Citro (“Aunt Lee”) - Pioneer Working Woman

Italina Citro of Wayne, New Jersey passed away on June 2, 2020 of natural causes.

She is survived by her sister Mary Civardi, nieces Frances DiSarro and Lydia Pasqualina, nephews John Civardi and Michael Siciliani, and her grand nieces and nephews and great grand nieces and nephews. Mrs. Citro was born on June 24, 1929.  Three words best describe her beautiful life: Devotion, Loyalty, and Tirelessness.  She is the daughter of Frank and Ida Sartori.  Frank and Ida emigrated to the United States from Italy in the 1920s. None of their siblings followed them to America.  Her parents settled into Astoria Queens.  In 1930, Lee was blessed with the birth of her sister Mary.   As all of their relatives were in Italy, their family relied on each other.  With the onset of the Great Depression and having parents that were still discovering how to assimilate into the changing American culture, Lee became a trailblazer.  She graduated from William Cullen Bryant High school, attended business college, was the first among her friends to learn how to drive and took a administrative job working for Sears and Roebuck eventually rising to a key executive level position - one typically reserved for men at that time.  Life for a working woman in the 1950s and 60s had its challenges but she embraced them and she LOVED Sears.  Even after she retired from Sears after 40 plus years she loved to shop there and engage with the employees.

She married Albert Citro in 1956.   Al and Lee made a great team.  They were a gorgeous fashionable couple who embraced every aspect of life in New York City.  And they were both quick witted, funny and entertaining. Lee and Al did not have biological children but they were blessed with nieces and nephews for whom they were like second parents.  Devotion, Loyalty and Tirelessness to their nieces and nephews,  Lee and Al would take them each summer to spend their vacations in Florida, take them to ball games and concerts, we’re enormously generous to them. When her nephew John was running marathons and needed someone to help drive him home, who would go and spend hours waiting for him to finish and then drive him home? It was Aunt Lee. When her niece Frances performed in summer stock around the country, it was Lee who would travel miles to see her, taking a seat at every performance.

In 1975 Sears relocated her to Chicago and she had to learn a new city and adapt to a changing culture at Sears which she did with determination and good humor.  Unexpectedly Albert passed away in the early 1980s.  In the midst of this change she persevered, and she grew closer to her sister Mary and brother-in-law Frank Civardi.    Vacations and holidays were spent with her sister and brother in law and often with their families. In 1990, Aunt Lee retired from Sears and facing more uncertainty, Frank followed the biblical tradition of taking in his widowed sister-in- law into his home.  Frank affectionately became known as the “Man with Two Wives”.  Aunt Lee became like a sister to Frank. The family all cared for each other in a way that words cannot describe but all those who had the opportunity to spend time with them could feel it and appreciate it.  In our current era where sacrifice and devotion can be uncommon or are thought of in some kind of transactional way, Aunt Lee embodied a selflessness.  When Frank took ill she was his driver and helped her sister during his illness.  When Mary broke her leg and was immobilized for months, Aunt Lee was her Florence Nightingale. She was the go to babysitter for her close by  grand niece and nephews when they were small. And a champion of their accomplishments as they grew.

Aunt Lee was a person of great faith and attended Immaculate Heart of Mary RC in Wayne. She was in church every Sunday no matter the conditions.  Having lived through turbulent times whether it was the depression, WWII, the Vietnam war, the civil unrest of the 1960s, and the recession of the 1970s she was devoted and loyal to her church and recognized that love of her God.

And God had a plan for Aunt Lee.  In 2001, when her brother in law Frank passed away, she became an even greater comfort to her sister.  Only 18 months apart they looked alike and talked alike and folks would sometimes confuse them.  They spent the last 20 years devoted to their family, helping them care for their children, helping their neighbors and friends, and driving them to their Doctor’s appointments.  Even when she took ill, Lee was tireless in her fight.  She continued to drive until she was 89 years old.  She just would not give up.  And she found out she was a good teacher.  Those traits of devotion and loyalty and tirelessness were embodied by her family,  especially in these last years her sister and niece Frances.  During this difficult time Mary and Fran cared for Aunt Lee with a love and compassion that one wishes could be bottled up and shown to the world.  And through  all the people she has touched, her legacy will live on.

While we on earth have lost our beloved Aunt Lee, the trumpets in Heaven are blowing loud and God is preparing a parade to welcome his loyal servant.  

Godspeed Aunt Lee