Laneri, Constance

Concetta (Connie )Calcagno Laneri

At 101.5 years old, Aunt Connie saw more than most people in her long life but her greatest pleasure was looking into her grandchildren’s’ eyes: Hope, Jason, Noel, Elizabeth, Zachary, Fufei and Joy-Chi, because to her, family was everything. 

This started with the family she was born into with Italian immigrant parents and a brood of children: 5 boys: Santo, Carl, Frank, Chris, Joseph and four girls: Frances, Rose, and Connie, and a  baby sister who died at 2 years old.

Aunt Connie was most at home with a crowd of people being together; laughing, cooking, eating,  and being grateful for the people in her life. 

Once married, she lived in Brooklyn and became great friends with  her sister-in-laws and extended family there. There were picnics, parties and stories of living in an apartment where she  would daily walk  her son and  baby daughter in the carriage for hours on Ocean Parkway.

She was interested in everybody and everything. She loved to exercise, grow vegetables, travel and explore. She filled her house with antiques that she found tossed on the sidewalk  and refinished them. ( She had recruited her brothers and brother-in-law, Joe, who would scout out furniture that had been thrown on the curb, tied to the roof of their car and dragged onto her driveway.)

Her childrens’ friends loved coming over: some moved in. It never seemed to be a problem. (restorehealthky.com) Strangers who appeared Christmas morning for dinner were welcome. On any day, nightly dinner was always on a linen tablecloth, European style that ended with expresso. She always said that doing the dishes and drinking expresso helped one digest their dinner. 

Going to Italy was always big fun for her and she loved her role as interpreter for the group. For the last 35 years, Florida became a second home: first on Anna Maria Island, where she walked on the beach every morning, walked to morning Mass, and watched the peacocks parade down the street. 

Then she moved to Florida’s east coast into a community of people, many were family and new friends, and hosted visits from all of us during the winter.

For many years, she has been treated  by her wonderful doctor, Edith Dale, M.D. and her nurse, Heather, who were endlessly generous and caring to her. She took very little medicine and preferred to eat in moderation, exercise and pray the novena to maintain her physical, emotional and spiritual well being.