Mary Edith (Gordon) Maldarella (1910 - 1994)

My grandmother was very resilient , growing up in Whitehall,New York in a mill town row house, having to quit school to work on factory floors to help her family make the rent. Her marriage to Tony was for love and together they raised a large family in hard times in a coal stove heated house with outdoor plumbing, she canned garden vegetables, made jams and relishes sewed clothing and took on the daily drudgery with a steel willed determination. She loved the large old house she raised her family in but during the great depression they were forced to move away. Many decades later her daughter Edith returned and restored the old house and had it placed on the National Historic Register. The family moved to Fitchburg Masachusetts where after a time living in a neighborhood called "the patch" they bought a small former brickyard office and turned it into a cozy family home, with a large backyard garden and orchard from which they would put up jars of jams, vegetables and fuit to use and share. Wild blueberry picking was another homespun activity to enjoy. As kids Christmas at her house was always looked forward to with her pies, pastries and all the wonderful food coming from her kitchen! Mary went back to work during WW2 and took the bus across town to work in a textile mill each day until she retired. Her joy was letters and the gifts (her knick knacks) sent from around the world by her sons in the service including a cuckoo clock from Germany. In retirement she enjoyed square dancing and travel.