By Emily J. Minor
OCEAN RIDGE — Elizabeth L. Pettinicchi, a stay-home mom and grandmother with a propensity for kindness, acceptance and spending time with her kids and grandkids, died Oct. 21 at her home in Ocean Ridge. She was 87.
“The main thing is, she was a very thoughtful, generous, positive person,” said her son, Robert Pettinicchi. “She was devoted to her family and friends.”
Born in 1926 in Waterbury, Conn., Mrs. Pettinicchi married her husband, Michael, just a month before her 22nd birthday. The couple moved 10 miles from her hometown to Cheshire, Conn., where Mrs. Pettinicchi worked as a stay-home mother until all three children were out of the house. “Her main focus was us and getting us on the right track,” her son said.
Robert Pettinicchi and his wife, Anna, have raised their three daughters in Cheshire and continue to live there. “She would do anything for those girls,” he said, of his three daughters, Jenna, Bianca and Elizabeth.
Robert Pettinicchi said his mother wasn’t fancy or showy. In 1980, as Michael Pettinicchi was wrapping up his career, Mrs. Pettinicchi found their home on Harbour Drive South in Ocean Ridge. They bought the home and had lived full-time in Florida ever since.
Michael Pettinicchi, who retired as a supermarket investor, became vocal in a few Ocean Ridge development issues and also dabbled in real estate, his son said. Mr. Pettinicchi died in 2011 at the age of 90.
But while her husband could be a bit outspoken, Mrs. Pettinicchi was the opposite. She loved staying home, talking to her granddaughters on the phone, and making food for special occasions.
“We would call her and tell her we’d booked a flight to come to Florida and she’d say, ‘OK. I’ll put the water on,’ ” her son said.
His parents’ retirement to Florida those 33 years ago gave the Pettinicchi children ample time to create family memories at their parents’ home near the ocean. The swimming pool was always alive with family activity during holidays and spring vacations.
When everyone came south for Thanksgiving, his mother would have the table set a week in advance, her son said.
Robert Pettinicchi said his mother, after surviving breast cancer many years ago, had a recurrence of cancer, which progressed quickly in the last three months. She died peacefully at home on a Monday morning, with her son, Michael, at her side.
Besides her three granddaughters and her sons Robert and Michael, her daughter, Diana Pettinicchi, also survives her. Services were held Oct. 26. The family asks that any memorial contributions be made to Hospice of Palm Beach, American Cancer Society or another charity of choice.
Comments