Obituary of Anna Cavallo

Anna Cavallo, beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend passed away in the early hours of Monday, January 28, 2013 at the age of 72. Anna was born during turbulent political times in Benghazi, Libya, on February 17, 1940. She was the third of four children. Her family struggled through poverty during her most formative, post-war, years. From the refugee camps in Libya, her parents (of Sicilian descent) moved their nucleus back to Italy, but this time to Rome, where each member of her family worked at a very young age to help bring food to the table. She recounted often of those years in Rome, where she loved to play outside in the streets. She defined herself as a tomboy, always jumping the highest, running the fastest and being reprimanded the most by her mother, Angelina, who only wished that Anna didn't tatter her clothing so quickly. Due to their ongoing economic struggle, Anna never had actual toys to play with - only the rag dolls her mother would put together for her, small enough to fit in her own delicate hands. In her late teen years, she and her family moved to New York, where Anna began her career as a talented seamstress and worked alongside her mother. It was in New York that she suffered the loss of her father, Paolo, who passed away at a very young age. Anna, herself, was twenty-three at the time, and she carried this loss with her throughout her life, as she had a very close bond with her father. He was one of the few people at the time that ever really made her feel special. On January 22, 1966, she married Sal Cavallo, also of Sicilian descent. After a couple of severe winters in New York, the newlyweds moved from Brooklyn to Los Angeles, where they set out to make and raise a family. They had two daughters, Lucia and Angela. They rented first in Eagle Rock, then in La Crescenta. They finally purchased a home in La Canada shortly after having had their second daughter. Anna's life as a young mother was mostly dedicated to raising her children and watching after the household, although she spent a few scattered years working as a seamstress/ sample-maker and a baby-sitter. She was a wonderful cook and was well known for her bread, pizza and cream puffs. In her early forties she suffered the loss of her older sister, Enza, who died of cancer. Fortunately, Anna was able to fly to New York to be with her sister for a few weeks shortly before Enza's passing. Anna's married life was a bit tumultuous, and sadly, after twenty-two years, her marriage with Sal ended in 1988. This event left the entire family in shock. Shortly after the initial separation, her daughters were sent to Sicily to live with their paternal uncle and cousins in the hopes of distracting them from the grief of the situation at hand. As her daughters were 14 and 18, it was decided that it would have been in their best interest for them to remain in the small town in Sicily, where they could live a slow-paced life, as opposed to being exposed to the numerous negative influences that dominated their environment in the much larger setting of Los Angeles. Her daughters spent a little under ten years in Sicily, where they met and married their husbands. Although Anna suffered a stroke in 1997, she was able to attend the weddings of both daughters in Sicily: Lucia's in 1996 (she sewed Lucia's wedding dress) and Angela's in 1997. Her daughters eventually moved back to Los Angeles in the subsequent years, but Anna's health continued to steadily deteriorate. She remained independent for the majority of her life, but during her final six years she was in various nursing homes, in need of 24-hour assistance. Most recently, she was brought more and more frequently to the emergency room due to the continued deterioration of her health. It was during these final years that she was faced with the death of her mother, due to natural causes, and of her eldest brother, Sebastiano, due to cancer. In spite of her grievous life, she always maintained her strong sense of humor and her tenacity to accomplish the impossible. Anyone who knew her closely enough was very familiar with her strong will. She was an extremely generous person who bought meals for the homeless and always put the needs of her family before her own. Her daughters, sons-in-law, grandchildren, brother, sister-in-law, nieces and nephews, family and friends across the globe will miss her infectious laugh, her twinkling eyes and her kind heart. May she finally rest in peace. Funeral services will be held on Monday, February 4, 2013 at 11:30 am at Holy Redeemer Church in Montrose. A viewing will be held at Crippen Mortuary in Montrose from 9:00 am to 10:30 am that same morning