Name: Frances N. Vito (Alaimo) "Fray" Life Dates: 8/31/1922 - 12/28/2010 City Of Birth: Rochester, NY Pre-deceased by Frances is predeceased by her husband, John Vito; brothers, Alphonse Alaimo Thomas Alaimo. History She is survived by her children, Carole Vito George (Sharon) Vito; grandchildren, Dr. Michael (Dr. Courtney) Vito, Amanda Vito, Jimmy Vito; sisters, Connie Orlando, Josie Colombo; sisters-in-law, Virginia Alaimo, Rochelle Alaimo; several nieces, nephews, and cousins. Donations Those wishing may contribute to Hope Hall, 1612 Buffalo Rd., Rochester, NY 14624 in Frances' memory. Services Frances' visitation will be Sunday 1-5 PM at the Funeral Home 1411 Vintage Lane (between Rte 390 Long Pond Rd). Frances' Funeral Mass will be celebrated Monday 11:30 AM at St. Mark's Church 54 Kuhn Rd. Interment in Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Additional Information My grandmother came from Italy at age of 7 and learned English. She was very smart. My mother said her mother would read her stories and worked with her because my grandfather spoke only Italian. My Mother would talk about when she was a little girl in a recital. She was carrying an umbrella. It wouldn't open and she dropped. She picked it up and went on as if it was normal. She remarked how her teacher praised her for continuing on as if it didn't happen. My Mother took 3 years of French because she wanted to be a nurse Her Mother in those days wouldn't hear of it. In those days, they thought nursing was a dirty job. But to this day, my Mother said she would have been good at it. I'm sure she would have been. She always tried to encourage me to be a nurse but it wasn't my choice. Anytime I would say I can't do something, she'd say there's no such word as can't. Being the oldest, my Mother helped my Grandparents in many ways. She helped take care of her sisters and brothers. She learned to cook and bake at an early age. Many times she talked about making pies for her family and for my Grandmother to serve to her company. She taught her brothers how to cook. She helped my grandfather make wine every year and that they made a some special wine for my grandmother. She was very close to her Father. When she started working, she had to hand over her paycheck every week until she got married. Her Father worked at the market and would come home cold. She talked about how she tried to ease his pain by washing his feet and rubbing them because he was so cold. They didn't have hot water and had to heat the water on the stove. Times were tough. She also had to help her Mother can foods during the summer. They were having a family party for my Mother's confirmation and family members were standing in the dining room when the floor dropped several inches. They had to have it raised. She told us many things about her life. Walking every place they went. How her uncles would pick her up in their cars to help her aunts. How her teacher would sometimes pick her up to spend the weekend at her house. How she sometimes visited relatives on the farm. How they lived with her grandparents until her parents could afford a house of their own. How her grandfather would give them one stick of gum and divide it into 5 pieces. How my grandfathers brothers would stop by every night on their way home from work. How the relatives always got together on weekends. It was a hard life but at times very fulfilling. My Mother didn't want to go out with my Father. He played on her sympathies due to the war and the possibility of his being drafted. My mother would drink Manhattans at parties from work. Her friends would take the cherries and they got drunk. Ma's Jobs She worked at Friendship Nursery and she got a kick of the fact that they called her Ms. Frances. Worked at Button Factory for a short time. Michaels Stern's with her Mother working on Men's Jackets. At some point during the war my Mother worked day and night shifts at different places. She worked at NEHI and met my Father there. They were married for 62 years when he passed away in the Nursing Home. She worked at Fanny Farmer Candy and made my Father a large Easter Egg. Worked at Kodak. When I was 2 years old, my Mother went to work at Otto Bernz on Lyell and Dewey Avenue ( the old Tent City). She worked on the lathe machine and drill press. One day one of the bosses told her to come dressed up the next day and apply for the Mail Room position. She did and got the job. She Supervised and Work in the Mail Room for 27 years. They moved to Driving Park at some point and she was able to design her working area. She trained several people to assist the mail room functions. She ran the Pitney Bowes Mail Machine and was able to do repairs on it. She typed plates for the addressagraph and ran the labels for bulk mailings. She processed outgoing mail, sorted incoming mail, delivered and pickup mail, did jobbers for mailings and put together bulk mailings. At one point they had a contest to rename Otto Bernz and she named it Bernz-O-Matic and got $25.00 for it. She retired around 57 years old as they were relocating to Medina and it was too far for her to drive the distance every day, so along with many others, she lost her job and my Father told her to stay home and retire. My Father went into businesses with my Uncle while my Mother was working at Bernz to help finance the business. My Mother, brother and myself would go help them. Many nights after working all day, my Mother would go to my Father's business and help him make soda pop, run the the bottle washer, sort bottles, run the filler, pick up, clean and whatever else needed to be done. She worked many nights until 9 p.m, and then go home and cook dinner. She was the oldest of 5 children. She was very smart and in eight grade was named Daughter of the Flag because she had the highest grades of the class. She was very proud of that. She was in the same singing class with William Warfield who became a famous singer. They were the last graduating class of Washington High School, Class of 1940. My Mother attended her 50th Reunion with many of the classmates which she has a photo of the class. My parents lived upstairs from my Father's parents for 35 years. They were finally able to buy their own ranch home in 1977. Mom Tuesday December 28, 2010. I never remember dates but, Tuesday December 28, 2010 was the date when Frances Vito died. She wanted everyone to know that her name ended with E S and not I S since I S was the ending for a man's name. We tried to prepare ourselves for Mom's death as she had several close calls in the last few years, but there was really no way to be ready for this. Mom lived for nearly 88 years and 4 months. - A long and fruitful life, but we were not ready to say goodbye. I guess we were selfish and wanted more. Mom would have been 24 years old when I was born. She worked as far back as I can remember as it was hard for them to get by on my father's pay when we were young. We didn't have a lot of material goods back then, but we were happy with what we had. Mom was proud to have graduated from high school and valued education. She took me to see father Ciaccia to enroll me in St. Anthony's school. I would walk home for lunch and my father would often drop me off at school after lunch where I would run up the cement steps at school. I tripped on those steps many times such that my mother had to sew patches on the knees of my pants where I had ripped them on the steps. I remember her helping me to learn to read at home. We would write on the kitchen wall with chalk to learn our letters. I remember making Oatmeal Cookies with Mom and her teaching me how to cook well enough that I surprised her one evening by having dinner cooked when she arrived home. I was probably trying to make up for falling and tearing my trousers. On some Saturdays, Carol and I went to work with her in the mailroom of the old factory on Dewey Avenue when we were in grade school. We were the only kids who could run all those machines which folded and addressed letters and sealed and stamped envelopes. It seemed more like fun than work for us because we were with mom and helping. In high school she got me a different job at Bernz every summer. I remember silly things like my shock when I walked into our kitchen to find snails climbing up the walls since my mother forgot to put the lid on the pot she had them soaking in My mother hated to drive but she did what she had to. I was around 13 years old and had to go to McQuaid one evening. She drove me and to our horror we wound up driving down a one way street the wrong way. We laughed about it later but were both pretty scared at the time. I remember Mom as always being generous with others. She has been generous with me, my wife and my children. Everyone here can probably give an example of her generosity. She also was forgiving and tried to see the good or good intentions in everyone. Her forgiving nature and outlook became even stronger in her later years. Most of the memories I have shared with you are from my childhood. In some ways I'll always be her little boy. I could tell you much more about my mother and her goodness. I am sure each of you has a favorite story about Frances. 88 years were not enough for us and we pray that she is now at peace in the presence of God. We would like to extend our gratitude especially to Dr. Grama Jagadish and his staff for keeping her going for so long. Thank you Drs. Louis Eichel, Paul Hartman, Howard I. Schenker, Ronald Monacelli, Darushe Anissi, Kamal Kothari, Tom Miller and Dr. Joseph Giangreco. Thank you to all at Unity Transitional Care Unit who took such great care of my Mother and made her your friend. Thank you all and anyone I may have missed. We can't thank you enough for what you all did for her.