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Rosaria Dabene was born in Palermo Sicily, Italy to Carmela Nicotra and Gioacchino Dabene during WWII.
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She went to school up until the 5th grade to work and become a seamstress like her mother.
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As she got older, she was arranged to marry her cousin, but refused because she wanted to choose herself.
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She found my nonno, Santi, and they got married in Palermo right before they moved to America -
Then they all want on a ship called the SS Cristoforo Colombo and sailed to America over the span of a couple months. -
Once they landed, they went through the citizenship process and bought a house in Jersey City, New Jersey to start their family. They also got jobs as, a seamstress in NYC, and a shipyard worker respectively.
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She got pregnant with their first child Antonio, but it didn't last. A few months later she got pregnant again and had my Uncle (zio) David. -
A year later they had my aunt (zia) Margaret -
Two years later the had my other aunt (zia) Michele
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A year after that they had their last child, my mom. -
After they had their family, while also working multiple jobs.
The 7 of them moved to Raritan New Jersey in the early 2000s. -
After years of doing labor and being exposed to Asbestos, my nonno died of lung cancer at the house, when all of us grandkids were too young to understand. -
A few years later my big nonna died of old age at the house. She was just a month shy of her 99th birthday, and had told all of us stories about her time growing up in Sicily during both WWI and WWII. -
Now my nonna is still at the house, retired, and living her life to the fullest with her 4 children, 8 grandchildren, nieces/nephews, in-laws, and girlfriends.