One mystery solved--sort of!

When I received the list of interment list for the Manzelli plot at the Calvary Cemetery, I noticed a listing for Dorothy Manzelli who died at the age of 17 and was buried outside the vault. I've been very curious about Dorothy, operating under the assumption she was a Manzelli child. The mystery, for me, was: whose child?

So, I followed up the way most any curious librarian/family historian would do and sent away for her death certificate. I was surprised to learn she was the wife of Andrew Manzelli, your grandmother's brother who later married Lois and became father to RuthAnn and Peter. She died in November of 1934 after about a month in the hospital of an acute intestinal obstruction. She must have been in a great deal of pain. She was ony 3 weeks shy of her 18th birthday at the time of her death.

Andrew was about 8 years older than she was and it must have been quite tragic. Kathleen tells me she recalls being told they had been married only about a year when she died. It appears she may have been ill much of that time.

In that calendar year from about November 1933 to November 1934 was a very difficult time for your grandmother Marguerite. In December of 1933, her father died suddenly while at a welcome-home-from-the- hospital party for her husband James who suffered from leukemia. Two months or so later, in February 1934 her husband died in the hospital. The following November her sister-in-law Dorothy died after a protracted illness. This must have set Marguerite back on her heels a bit, especially given these were the Depression years. She had two young children to care for as well. They were only 9 and 5 years old when their father died.

I picture that she had the support of her extended family of siblings and spouses, just as we do today. So allow me to say thank you to you all for that and to remind us all that it is part of a family tradition, whether we were aware of it or not.