Marie Rosalie, who was born 104 years ago in Little Italy and lived in the Village until 1999 when she was injured in a fall and moved to Long Island with a grandniece, died peacefully in a Rockville Centre hospice on July 28.
“We walked the Village every day and twice a week we went to Zito’s for bread and then to Murray’s Cheese Shop,” recalled her grandniece, Carmen DiBartolomeo. “She lived on Perry St. for 70 years independently until she fell and I had her come live with me. She had Meals on Wheels. She went to the senior center at Greenwich House. She didn’t want to leave the Village,” DiBartolomeo said.
Marie Rosalie was the third of seven children of Lucia and Frank Rosalie, immigrants from Italy. Immigration officials misspelled the family name of Rosalia and the mistake became permanent, DiBartolomeo explained.
Born Dec. 28, 1900, Marie was baptized at the Church of the Most Precious Blood on Baxter St. She went to P.S. 38, graduated at 15 and started doing piecework for a milliner. “She took a job with Knox who gave her a frame and set her on the way. She eventually ended up working on Fifth Ave.,” her grandniece said.
“She was the most pampered of all her siblings. Her mother thought for some reason that Marie was particularly delicate. In later years, my aunt admitted that she took advantage of the perception, smiling as she watched a younger sister work,” said her grandniece. Marie’s brothers and sisters didn’t seem to mind and the family grew and thrived on Spring St.
Frank Rosalie was a butcher and with his oldest son ran a butcher business at various rented storefronts in the Village. “Marie said her father was a great cook and made delicious dishes in the back of the store,” said her grandniece. Two of Marie’s brothers were stonecutters and sculptors. It was a close-knit family. When one of the siblings found a job, he or she would try to get one of the others a place in the same company.
“Her life was filled with joy and love and she stood as a testament to an American life,” said DiBartolomeo.
Four nieces and a nephew survive in addition to many grandnieces, grandnephews, great grandnieces and great grandnephews.
Perazzo Funeral Home, 199 Bleecker St., is in charge of arrangements. Visitation will be from 2 p.m.-5 p.m. and 7 p.m.-9 p.m. Wed. Aug. 3 and the funeral will be at 9:30 a.m. Thurs. Aug. 5 at Our Lady of Pompei Church on Bleecker and Carmine Sts. Burial will be in Calvary Cemetery in Queens.
