Virginia M. DePaulo

Virginia was born in 1927, two years before the beginning of the Great Depression. Her father, Nicola, had immigrated from the Abruzzi region of Italy. Her mother, Mildred, was a first-generation Italian American from Naples. When she was born, she had an older brother, Anthony, and older sister, Lorraine. She also would have two younger sisters, Mary and Mela.
From an early age during the depression, she learned to make money babysitting and to give her earnings to her family in order for the family to survive. As bad luck would have it, just as the depression was slowly coming to an end, World War II began when she was only 13 years of age. The war entailed rationing and shortages of necessities. On top of that, when she was 14 her father, who had his own landscaping business, was murdered without anyone ever being arrested for the crime. At that time, justice for the recent Italian immigrants was hard to find. Then her luck changed. Her friend told her about the job she had working in a dress factory in Manhattan. That dress factory was owned by Mr. and Mrs. Lopisi. After Virginia was working there for a while, the Lopisi's were looking for a live-in helper for their infant son Salvatore and soon to be second infant son Joseph. Mrs. Lopisi did not want to be a stay home mom but wanted to go right back to the dress factory which she managed. Consequently, Virginia moved into their spare bedroom in their apartment in Astoria Queens and the rest is history.
Virginia was in fact a surrogate mother to both Salvatore and Joseph. Mrs. Lopisi went to work every day early in the morning and did not return until dinnertime around 6 PM that evening. The boys were in bed right after dinner. Virginia did everything that a stay at home mother would do. She did everything for her stepson, Salvadore until the moment he moved out of the house to get married. She became best friends with Mrs. Lopisi from the time she first moved in. When the Lopisi's retired and decided to move to Florida, Mrs. Lopisi refused to go to Florida unless Virginia came with them. Mr. Lopisi convinced Virginia to come with them to Florida for what he said would be a short amount of time. Virginia lived with the Lopisi's in Florida except for when she bought her own condominium in Florida on the floor above where the Lopisi's lived. When Mrs. Lopisi fell ill with Alzheimer's in 1994, Virginia helped Mr. Lopisi care for Mrs. Lopisi until she passed away in July 1986.
As a result of Mr. Lopisi's inability to do anything in the kitchen other than to boil water, he convinced Virginia to stay in Florida and marry him. Against Joseph's advice to go and have her own life away from the Lopisi's, Virginia did not listen. Virginia and senior Joseph Lopisi married in 1987 and remained married until Mr. Lopisi passed away in 2001. Virginia cared for her husband as his health declined and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
Virginia lived in southern Florida from when her husband died until about 2012 when her stepson Joseph moved her to Arlington Massachusetts. She lived on her own in a one bedroom apartment until early September 2024. Of course, she received a lot of help from Joseph and other women in the building where she lived. When her arthritis and Alzheimer's made it very difficult for her to continue living alone, she moved into a nursing home in Arlington where she passed away peacefully on January 13, 2025.
Virginia kept her quick sense of humor almost till the end. She was a goodhearted, caring, warm woman whose main desire was to take care of others. She will be missed greatly by her son, Joseph. May she rest in peace.
Relatives and friends are invited to visit in the DeVito Funeral Home, 1145 Mass. Ave., ARLINGTON on Friday from 10:00 am - 12:00 pm and to her funeral home service at 12:00 pm. Burial to follow in St. Paul Cemetery, Arlington. Please visit devitofuneralhome.com to view an online guestbook.