Lidia LoPrete

Lidia Lucchetta LoPrete passed away on Monday, February 12, 2024 at the age of 86, leaving behind both love and sorrow, and yet an abundance of joyful memories for all who knew her.
Lidia was born on April 22, 1937 in San Donà di Piave-a township in the province of Venice-in northern Italy, the fifth of six children. Along with her parents and some of her siblings, she emigrated to Argentina at the age of 18, escaping the hardships of post-war Europe and hoping for better times. In Buenos Aires, Lidia began a new life; she worked as a seamstress, she picked up a new language, she fostered new friendships, and she helped her parents construct a new home in her new country. There she also met her husband, Andrea LoPrete, a carpenter from Calabria who left southern Italy for the same reasons she had. Once married, they built a house with their own two hands, and before long three children were on the scene: Javier (Sam), Eduardo (Eddie), and Marisa (Marisa).
Economic hardships forced the family to emigrate again-this time to the United States. Now living on her third continent, Lidia started life all over again. Living first in an apartment in the Bronx, Lidia and Andrea worked hard to renovate the house itself, which would become their family home. Eventually, they saw their children begin families of their own. A grandmother four times over, Lidia became "Nona" to everyone who knew her.
She was, throughout her years, so many things: a daughter, a sister, a friend, a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a caretaker; she was an amazing cook, a tireless sewer and knitter of anything she felt someone could use. If you visited her and you were hungry, she would feed you. If you weren't hungry, she would feed you anyway. She could be stubborn, but she loved everyone unconditionally; she could talk a lot, but she would listen. She left no room for anyone to doubt: if she knew you, then you mattered.
Life never came easy for Lidia, but you wouldn't know it because of her optimism and her strength to move forward regardless of circumstance. That is her legacy-to love without pretense, to look adversity in the eye and never let it destroy you, to stay strong and be hopeful. And to be kind. These virtues will now live on in Lidia's four precious grandchildren-Matthew, Alessia, Alessio, and Sebastian, who she loved more than life itself-and in anyone else who was fortunate enough to have known her.