Theresa Sessa

Theresa Sessa, a former resident of Bronxville, NY, passed away peacefully at Devon House, Allentown, PA. She was predeceased by her beloved husband, Fiorentino, to whom she was married for 69 years. She is survived by her children, Edward (Penny), Theresa (Louis) Andrews, JoAnne (Ray Carlier) Sessa, and Frances (Norman Hunt) Sessa. She is also survived by nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Born in Italy, Theresa lived in the Bronx where she attended Hunter College, and worked during WWII as a secretary and then draftswoman. She met and married “the boy next door” and love of her life, Fiorentino (“Butch”). Together they worked in the family business, the World’s Fair Bar and Grill. She would get her children off to school with lunches, attend to house chores, then drive into the Bronx to help at the restaurant during lunch hours. Then back to home and taking care of her children (she always found time to check their homework). After retiring from the restaurant business, Theresa was employed as an account manager in the maintenance department of Sarah Lawrence College. There she was both a dependable and beloved figure for the maintenance workers, the students and the faculty. At her retirement from the College, the school president hosted a party in her honor for her service to the school. This was Theresa’s last, but dream job.

In retirement, Theresa continued to be an avid reader and family and friends had trouble supplying her with all the books she would read. She loved keeping her mind active doing word-search and jigsaw puzzles, communicating with her children through emails, and well into her nineties still learning to master her husband’s cooking recipes. She enjoyed simple pleasures, her ice cream, chocolates (only “two pieces per day”) and of course a Dunkin’ jelly donut. Her mind stayed sharp well into her nineties. After reading in bed each night, and saying her prayers, she would go over in her mind the names of all her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren lest she forget anyone. And she kept a list of all her family’s birthdays so as to never forget to send a card and birthday check. Most memorable of all was her talent for the occasional verbal and memory slip-ups – and her joining in the laughter that they elicited. Theresa always was an optimist, sought out the happiness of others, and will ever be remembered for her goodness and kindness towards others.