Blogger Amy Johnson Crow has
challenged us with writing about an Ancestor once a week for the year
2019. She will give us prompts to get us started. This week's
prompt is Love.
This week the challenge is Love, but being it is the week
for Valentine’s Day I will write about Valentine Glessoff Zito.
Alfred Zito & Valentine Glessoff
Valentine’s birthday was 27 June 1907, so not on Valentine’s
Day. She was born in Newark, New Jersey.
Were they just thinking she was their Valentine and professing their love for
each other? Or was it a family name? Valentine’s parents, Ivan and Alexandria
were both born in Russia.
The name Valentyna is a popular Slavic name for girls,
meaning healthy and strong. I believe
this was why they named their second girl Valentine (Americanizing the name).
Valentine was my husband’s Aunt, sister to his mother
Mary. Valentine lived a full and happy
life. She married Alfred Zito (Freddy)
in 1929 in Brooklyn. They had one daughter, Jacqueline born in 1945. Valentine was called Aunt Val or DeeDee by
her nieces and nephew. When her sisters
started having grandchildren, they also called her DeeDee. She was a second grandmother to all the
grandchildren. She would come to visit
and play games, swim in the pool, cook and reorganize cabinets and
closets. She was always busy. She worked for many years for the Town of
Oyster Bay in the Clerks office and was very involved with the Republican Party
of Nassau County. Valentine’s daughter,
Jacqueline married in the 1980’s when Valentine was in her late 70’s. Jacqueline and her husband George then had 2
sons. They were the love of Valentine’s
life. She spent every spare minute of
her day with the boys and I am sure they returned the love.
Valentine lived until she was 94 and enjoyed every day of
it. She died 20 January 2001 in
Hicksville where she lived for over 50 years
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