Our Mumà Granda was Francesca (Becco) Pesce, who with her husband Paolo Rocco Pesce, came over from Giusvalla and settled in Squirrel Run in 1910. She was 59 years old at the time of her arrival and was the oldest woman to ever come to the United States from Giusvalla.
After her husband Paolo died and the Squirrel Run community dispersed following the closing of the powder mills, Francesca lived with the family of her youngest daughter and son-in-law, Josephine and Frank Rosaio, on their mushroom farm up on Ebright Road, north Wilmington.
My aunts fondly remember the Mumà Granda saying her prayers every night before bed, in her nightgown with her long gray hair hanging loose all the way down to her hips. She died at home in 1940, at the age of 89.
In the picture (left to right): Josephine (Pesce) (Perrone) Rosaio & Francesca (Becco) Pesce, circa 1919
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