Susanna Giammona

Susanna Giammona (nee Graziano), age 86 of Wayne passed away peacefully on Sunday, October 10, 2021 at her home while receiving the loving care of her family.

Susanna was born and raised in Palermo, Italy on the island of Sicily.  She was one of eleven children to Lorenzo and Vincenza Graziano. Susanna left school early to help her parents support their large family, as many of the people in her area did at the time.  As a young woman in her early twenties, Susanna met a handsome young man by the name of Giovanni Giammona.  Susanna and Giovanni hit it off great and started dating.  As fate would have it, they fell in love and on September 3, 1958 Susanna and Giovanni became husband and wife.  They were married at St. John the Baptist Church just outside of Palermo.  After getting married, the newlywed couple settled in a small town on the outskirts of Palermo called Tommaso Natale. Susanna and Giovanni moved there because of the growing industry and job opportunities.

While living in Sicily, Susanna and Giovanni welcomed the births of all five of their children.  On March 8, 1980, Susanna and her entire family immigrated to the United States of America in search of a better life and the “American Dream.”  Susannna’s family settled in the city of Garfield, NJ when first arriving in the United States.  They lived there for about two years when the moved to a section of South Paterson on the border of Clifton, where they spent the next fifteen years.  In 1997, the family moved to Wayne Township and has been there ever since.

After getting married, Susanna became a full time homemaker.  This was in fact Susanna’s calling and where she truly flourished.  She was an extremely dedicated wife, mother, and grandmother.  Spending her formative years in a country famous for its food, it came as no surprise that Susanna was an outstanding cook.  She was famous throughout her friends and family for her rice balls and meatballs especially.  Coming from such a large family, many of the family holiday celebrations were divided between Susanna and her siblings.  Susanna’s holiday tradition was her flamboyant New Year’s Eve parties, which everyone always looked forward too.  Susanna also enjoyed traveling and cherished her vacations and tours of her home country of Italy.  She and her family traveled to Italy as tourists and traveled the country from top to bottom visiting its most famous, scenic, and historical sites.  She and her family often visited Disney World and Epcot Center in Florida.  While there, by everyone’s amazement, as if she were a child, she would stand in line and go on every ride in the park.

Shopping was also another of Susanna’s favorite pastimes.  Her most favorite place to shop was Costco.  If ever anyone needed any item, Susanna was positive you could get it at Costco.  Above all, Susanna’s greatest passion was for her family.  Nothing in the world meant more to Susanna than providing for, nurturing, and spending time with her children.  She dove into the role of grandmother, helping raise her two beloved grandsons.  Susanna and her husband Giovanni cherished fifty-two years of loving and loyal marriage until Giovanni’s passing in November of 2010.        

Susanna was a truly special person who touched the lives of many people and will be sincerely missed by everyone that knew her.

Susanna is survived by her five children; Domenico Giammona of Wayne, Vincenza Giammona of Wayne, Giuseppa Giammona of Wayne, Lorenzo Giammona of Wayne, and Maria Fiorello and her husband Brian of Wayne, two grandchildren; Anthony Dominic Fiorello and John Ryan Fiorello both of Wayne, two sisters; Carmela Maglifore of Edgewater, FL and Caterina Saputo of Edgewater, FL, two brothers Ignazio Graziano and his wife Joan of Paramus, NJ, and Francesco Graziano and his wife Jean of Paterson; two sister-in-laws JoAnn Graziano of Toms River, NJ, and Cookie Graziano of Maywood, NJ, and many nieces and nephews.  Susanna is predeceased by her husband Giovanni Giammona in 2010, her four brothers Giuseppe Graziano, Salvatore Graziano, Antonino Graziano, Mario Graziano (2 years of age), and two sisters; Providenza Di Maggio, and Maddelena Vitrano.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Susanna’s name may be made to the American Heart Association, PO Box 417005, Boston MA 02241-7005. http://www.heart.org