Antonietta Santariga Obituary
It's with tremendous sadness we announce the passing of Antonietta Santariga, 92, of Brookfield, CT on December 30, 2022.
She was born to the late Filippo and Candida (Salciccia) Gentile on March 14, 1930 in the town of Tagliacozzo, the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo, in the region of Abruzzo, Italy.
As a young girl living in Italy, Antonietta along with her siblings assisted their parents by working on their farm collecting eggs and selling them to people in the town. They would also take care of the animals on the farm and Antonietta could also be found working alongside her mother in the kitchen mastering her culinary skills. Later on in life, she moved to Rome where she worked for an elderly woman and in her free time, she would focus on her hobby, which was being a seamstress. She loved to design her own clothes and bring them to fruition. Her old photos are a great representation of the clothes she made and would often wear.
She met the love of her life, Orfeo Santariga, in the 1960's and they married in February of 1966. She lived in Italy in Tagliacozzo, in the province of L'Aquila in Abruzzo. Shortly thereafter, her first child was born in 1967 and in 1968, while pregnant with her second child, they made the journey together as a family to the United States. They lived in Yonkers, NY until 2005 when she moved to Brookfield, CT. She was a homemaker for quite awhile after moving to the U.S. until she decided to go to work in a factory in the 1980's. She worked as an assembler in an industrial facility.
When not at work, she would often be found in the kitchen preparing homemade meals for her family and friends. She loved to cook but mainly loved to feed everyone. Food was her way of welcoming people into her home and she had learned quite a skill from her mother, as everything she cooked was from scratch. In her later years, when she became a grandmother, her entire focus was on her grandchildren – she lived for each and every one of them. All of their food had to be homemade and she stopped at nothing to provide that for them. Her grandchildren adored her and they had the privilege of calling her their Nonna.
Antonietta is predeceased by her beloved husband Orfeo of more than 50 years, her brother Nello Gentile and sisters Laura Salciccia and Giovanna Luigia Del Treste. She is survived by her two children, Lori Young and her husband Joseph and Roberta Recouper and her husband Frank along with her treasured grandchildren, Joseph Anthony Young, Justin Joseph Young and Alexander Daniel Recouper. She is survived by her sister Anaide Tolli as well.
We have suffered a tremendous loss, losing our beloved mother and Nonna.
We will miss her dearly and find comfort knowing that she will be our eternal angel in heaven alongside our beloved father and Nonno.
A Crypt Side Service to honor and celebrate Antonietta's life will take place at 12:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 7, 2023 at the Rosewood Mausoleum Building at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, NY.
Funeral arrangements entrusted to Cargain Funeral Homes, Inc., 418 Route 6 (GPS US-6), Mahopac, NY10541, 845-628-5655.
