Josephine Disantis

Josephine L. (Amatangelo) DiSantis
Come December, the DiSantis Christmas cookie tray will have an empty space where the traditional biscotti should be. The heart of our family, Josephine Lillian DiSantis, came to the end of her long journey on March 5,2014.
Hers was an American story. Born of immigrant parents Joseph and Marietta Amatangelo in Donora, Pennsylvania on April 1, 1919, Josephine and her beloved husband Armand came to Erie in 1949, opening DiSantis Grocery in “Little Italy” on West 18th Street. Through long hours in that tiny corner store, Jo and Armand turned customers into first name friends, enabling them to send three sons through medical and dental school. And that devotion to family shaped all that she did, from perfectly packed lunch boxes, to crisply pressed button down shirts.
In addition to her parents and her beloved step-mother Maria, Jo now enjoys the company of her best friend and husband of 66 years, Armand, as well as her eldest son, Theodore (Ted). Her elder sister Rose Lorenzo and younger brother Ernest Amatangelo likewise were there to greet her.
Missing her already are her sons Dennis DiSantis and his wife Cheryl, David DiSantis and his wife Denise; brother-in-law (and pretty much fourth son) Anthony Foffi and wife Michele; and daughter-in-law, Patricia DiSantis. Grandchildren Christopher, Jeffrey, Melissa Obergefell and husband Doug, Mary Ellen Elshaw and husband Ernie, Denise Wingate and husband Will , Dan, Alyssa, and Bryan are lucky to have been thoroughly spoiled by such a wonderful grandmother. And great-grandchildren Christopher, Anna, Grace, Thea, Claire, Dennis, Quint, and Gabe were blessed to get their start in the nurturing family that she so carefully molded.
Josephine’s siblings – Delores Forty, Mary Lou Tirpak, Robert and Joseph Amatangelo, Carmella DeSanto, Marlene Perok, and Faustine Jakela – doubtless share our indelible loving memories of their big sister. And Aunt Jo could always coax a smile from her dozens of nieces and nephews.
It’s said that you make a life by what you give. Josephine’s life was giving, and the legacy of that life’s work will be light and love through generations. Mille grazie, cara mamma.
Friends are invited to call at the John J. Quinn Funeral Home, West 9th & Liberty St. Friday from 2-5 & 7-9 PM and are invited to attend Prayer Services there Saturday at 10:30 AM followed by a Funeral Mass at 11:00 AM in Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church. Entombment will be in Calvary mausoleum. Memorials may be made to the Hospice of the Western Reserve, 300 E. 185th St., Cleveland, OH 44119.