Mary Balestriero's Obituary
Mary Balestriero, age 84, passed away suddenly on February 4th in her home in Port Richey. She is survived by her loving sons and their families. Fred Balestriero with wife Janet, and Steven Balestriero along with wife Amanda, grand daughter Katie, soon to be grandson in law Matt Friedel and Great Grandson Brantley Friedel... whom she adored and doted on. She also is survived by brother Danny Avitto, ad well as many niece’s, nephews, and great-nieces and great-nephews from her brothers and sisters who passed before her.
Mary was born in New York on June 2, 1934 into a large traditional Italian family. She was the youngest girl of seven siblings. Her mother passed when she was eight and her sisters gave her the life skills she needed to become a wife and mother later in life. They grew up living within blocks of one another. Raising their children and enjoying large holiday family gatherings and of course Sunday dinners complete with gravy and bracioles that had simmered all day to perfection.
She married in December 1963 to Luigi Balestriero. Shortly after they welcomed their eldest son Ferdinand aka Fred. Mary always loved the story of Ferdinand the bull and raised her son to be a gentle giant. He grew up as kind and as big hearted as his mother. Three years later they welcomed son Steven. He grew up loving life and the outdoors with a spunky witty side and a zest for fun and a gift for making friends just like his Mom Mary.
The family moved to Florida in 1972 when her husband decided he had had enough of the bitter winters. Leaving her family was hard, but Mary was a woman of adventure so off to Florida they went.
They lived in Tamarac and Mary found work as a lunch lady in the school cafeteria. She wanted a job that did not take away from her first priority of raising her Family. They were very close and when the boys were older they took 3 trips to Italy staying with Family. Mary loved to travel and go on adventures, but her favorite destinations were to visit family and friends. She also loved to entertain and any person that came to visit was given the Royal treatment and feasted like such. Mary worked in the school system for 30 plus years retiring in 1999.
In 1998 son Fred got married to Janet. Mary loved every aspect of the wedding and even threw them an engagement party. It was a huge celebration and a mini family reunion of many of the family from New York. She never thought of it as losing a son instead she gained a daughter that day.
A year later Steven also took a bride Amanda. They had a lovely wedding near the beach on a beautiful day. She welcomed her second daughter that day, but also gained a bonus grand daughter Katie Clark. Watching her grow and playing grandma was one of the highlights of her life.
It was also during this time that Mary found herself single after 38 years of marriage and living in Coral Springs. For most people this would be an ending but for Mary it was a new beginning. She learned to drive, and found things to do that made her happy. One was continuing Sunday night dinners and trying to teach her daughter in law’s to cook old school Italian meals for her sons. She also made new friends. She traveled to fun activities and destinations with her new friends carted around by bus driver Bill. At age 70 they called her the kid on the bus. She loved to spur the ladies on to have clean crazy fun.
In 2009 She moved to Port Richie to be closer to son Steven and his family that had moved there a few years before. She used to visit them and when she did she found the traffic and the way of life to be more conducive to retirement than Broward County. She still found time to come back to visit Son Fred and Janet and reconnect with her friends from the bus. When she did they would treat her like royalty.
She settled into life in Port Richie and found a church family to belong to. She joined the ladies guild and enjoyed having them over for cake and coffee or going out to lunch. Mary loved to eat, drink and celebrate and was known to enjoy a cocktail of cranberry and vodka, but what she really loved was an ice cold beer... she would get a kick out of Katie exclaiming “Grandma you are drinking a beer!”. She would laugh her infectious laugh and you couldn’t help but smile.
This past December she traveled all over Florida with Amanda and her mom Judy visiting friends and relatives. She spent Christmas with Katie and the Friedel’s enjoying Brantley’s second Christmas. She told her nieces she spoke to on the phone weekly what a great time she had on her trip... even though she was a little tired.
She was looking forward to her Granddaughters wedding February 23, 2019. In fact night before she passed she was trying on her grandmother of the bride dress having it altered by Judy while talking on the phone to son Steven... she was laughing and joking as usual.
Her sudden passing on February 4th 2019, has sent a shock wave through our hearts of her immediate and extended family as well friends and all who knew her. To know her was to love her and she touched so many lives. Our hope as that you remember that smile and infectious laugh and share your stories of her. It is in sharing those stories we will keep her memory alive. Rest In Peace Mom you will be missed more than you could ever know.
A visitation will be held at Trinity Memorial Gardens on Thursday, February 7th, from 4:00 to 7:00. A funeral Mass will be held at St. Michael the Archangel Catholic Church on Friday, February 8th, at 11:00.
What’s your fondest memory of Mary?
What’s a lesson you learned from Mary?
Share a story where Mary's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Mary you’ll never forget.
How did Mary make you smile?
