Adele Iole Lord

Adele I. Lord "Nonni"

Adele was born to Dr. Pietro Fabrizio and Maria de Capoa on February 14, 1924 in Campobasso, Molise, Italy. Passing away on December 28th at age 90 she lived a long and admirable life.

During WWII, while yet a young girl, she moved with her family to Lecce in the less threatened region of Puglia. In her late teens, the war interrupted studies she'd begun at the University of Rome, forcing her to resume her life with her family in Lecce. As the war came to an end, she met and fell in love with Wilfrid H. Lord, a Seattle native who was serving as a volunteer with the American Field Services attached to the British Eighth Army campaigning across North Africa and into Italy where Lord was setting up Red Cross facilities.

They married in on July 28, 1945 before they moved together to Seattle in 1947. Even while getting used to a whole new way of life and a new language Adele took advantage of her Italian sense of style and landed a job as a fashion model in Seattle's postwar Bon Marche. She retired temporarily to become a mother and a homemaker with the birth of her daughter, Adrienne (Paetzke) who survives her. Family then became the major focus of the remainder of her long and productive life. As her daughter became established Adele returned to the Bon Marche where she spent over 25 years as a retail sales specialist and women's wear consultant.

Grandchildren came too. Adele nurtured and cared for her grandsons Ryan and Peter, and then expanded her boundless love and caring to embrace her great-granddaughter Giordana Coccia and great-grandson Matthew Tallent. Each of them survive her and miss their "Nonni" endlessly.

She was predeceased by her husband and by a sister Wanda Fabrizio. Adele was known to one and all as a woman of intelligence, dignity and substance. Whether she spent her time cooking tantalizing Italian dishes for family or guests, or teaching informal Italian classes in her meticulously kept home to enthusiastic friends, or turning her garden into a showplace, she illuminated the lives of others with style and grace. She spent years of valuable service as an active member and office holder of the Dante Alighieri society, the international Italian cultural heritage group. Even in her quietest alone time, perhaps with a book or a challenging crossword puzzle she challenged herself to be the best and the most she could be. She succeeded at that more than she ever dreamed.

Funeral services will be held at 1 PM, Saturday, January 3 at St. Bridget Catholic Church where a reception will follow.

Hoffner Fisher & Harvey
Guest book at harveyfuneral.com