Sophie Bartel Eustace married her first husband ??? Eustace Sophie and her first husband had 5 sons together. Her first husband died of appendicitis. She remarried (Golins). Sophie buried two husbands as well as her five sons. Her son Charles Eustace was the last to die when he was 65 and she was in her 80s. Sophie had been living with Charles and Johanna Eustace in the Bronx at the time of Charles’ death. After the funeral, Sophie climbed up the 5 stories to the apartment.
Author Archives: Rosalie
Rose Ciaccio – things she told us in her nursing home years
As recorded by Rosalie Ragucci-Cook (her granddaughter)
By the time I started dating my husband, John, my grandma was already in the nursing home. She absolutely adored John. He made her laugh and he’d ask her great questions about her life. We still laugh today about “Riley”. Grandma told John one day that someone (I don’t remember who) was “living the Life of Riley”. John asked Grandma “Who’s Riley?” She said “Oh, he had it good!!” She never told him who Riley was (old TV show character) but we still joke about Riley all the time.
One day, she told him about her trip to America. Her family was Italian but lived in Tunis, Tunisia because her father worked there. He came to America and she came with her mother and siblings later. They left from Marseilles, France. She said that she remembered her mother making them be quiet and making them stay away from the windows during the trip and she said that the windows were all painted black. They came to America during the war so they were trying to keep the ship dark at night so that it wouldn’t be bombed. In fact, after the ship dropped them off in America, it was bombed on the way back to Europe.
My grandmother fell twice in her later years. Each time, she literally broke one of her eyes. She was almost totally blind in the last 6-8 months of her life. At that point, she developed “blind senility”. She could see shadows and light and dark but not even enough to make out a shape. It would make her think she was seeing things and it was heartbreaking. In her last year of life, before she became blind, she would ask me if John and I were going to have a baby. I confided in her that we were trying. After she became blind and very senile, she would say to my mother (her daughter Rose) “bring me the boy. I want to see the boy”. My mom would ask “What boy? We don’t have any boys.” My mom was an only child, I was an only child, there were never any boys. Grandma would ask to see the baby, the boy. So I always knew that my baby would be a boy because my grandma told me before I was even pregnant. She never lived to see him but she would have loved him!
Benjamin and Julia Cook
Benjamin and Julia Cook are cousins and are only 3-1/2 months apart. They have been best buddies their whole lives. People always ask us if they are brother and sister, especially when we spent a week in Manasquan together in 2008. They look like twins. They spend so much time together that they act like brother and sister (and fight like brother and sister too!). If they’ve been apart for more than a couple of days, they start asking to see each other.
At the age of three, Ben and Julia had their first “sleepover” at naptime in Ben’s room. They each had their own mat on the floor with their own pillow, blanket and stuffed animal. Ben had his Winnie the Pooh bear that he always sleeps with. Julia had Ben’s Piglet. At first, they were very quiet and then they made little noises for 45 minutes. Apparently, they told us later that “Pooh and Piglet were talking to each other”. They were oohing and ahhing and whispering very sweet nonsense words to each other. I would say that this was their first true bonding experience.
Marcella Ford (Jean Cook’s Mother)
Marcella Ford (Jean Cook’s Mother)
Kathleen Cook Simpson’s recollections of her grandmother (recorded by Rosalie Cook):
She had scarlet or rheumatic fever as a child which weakened her heart. She had a heart attack when Kathleen was about 10 years old (approximately 1976). She wouldn’t go to the hospital – she layed on the floor for a whole day saying it was just her back. Finally, Jean and Bill came over and took her to the hospital. After that, she was on blood thinner medication (Coumadin). Years later, she fell and broke her hip. She needed hip replacement surgery. She was evaluated by cardiologist and they warned her of the risks of the surgery but told her that without the surgery, she would be in a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She chose the surgery but they had to take her off the Coumadin before the surgery. She passed away during surgery.
Also, she used to be a firefighter.
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Aunt Angelina and eyeglasses
Aunt Angelina – stuck licence plate
Aunt Angelina – teeth ( Rosalie remembers)
Benjamin’s First trip to Disney World!
Walt Disney World – May 14 to May 21, 2008
Benjamin’s First trip to Disney World!
Wednesday — 11am flight. Character dinner at Chef Mickey with Mickey and the Gang.
Ben was very good on the airplane. He wanted to sit between Mommy and Papa. He ate his animal crackers and drank his milk during take off and landing so that his ears didn’t hurt from the pressure. He didn’t sleep on the plane so he was exhausted when we arrived. He slept in the car on the way to the hotel. He slept in the car all through check-in and kept sleeping while we went to buy groceries. He woke up as we were getting ready to leave the store. As we drove to our hotel, we told him to look for Mickey Ears on the street signs. He loved it. The whole rest of the trip, on every car ride he’d proclaim “I looking Mickey Ears!” He would point them out whenever he saw them. We got back to the hotel and he loved the Mickey Ears on the banisters. He explored the room and found lots of great hiding spots for himself and his toys — his favorites were the big closet in Mommy and Daddy’s room and the big cabinet in the kitchen. We went to dinner at Chef Mickey in the Contemporary. He loved seeing the characters. He was a little afraid when they came close to him but he loved seeing them from far away. He was the most afraid of Goofy and the least afraid of Minnie. After dinner, we took the monorail to Magic Kingdom to pick up our tickets. He loved seeing the big Mickey and Minnie topiaries. He went to bed without an argument… he must have been so exhausted! Continue reading
Jean & Bill Cook Family
Recollections by Jean Cook
Jean & Bill Cook
Jean Ford Cook was engaged to another man before she met Bill Cook. Her father met a man on the bus who was a diamond merchant in NY. This man gave her father some diamonds to take home for Jean to look at. Then, Jean and her father went to this man’s house to pick out a diamond. They chose a perfect blue-white stone. After they broke the engagement, she gave the ring back. Her father told her “I think you’re in love with the ring!” Jean met her husband, William (Bill) Cook at work when they both worked at Equitable. They dated for about a year before they were married. They were engaged in January and married on June 26, 1965.
Cook Family
Bill’s mother died of stomach cancer in approximately 1970. Her daughter, Carol Cook Tesoriero, now has stomach cancer as well. Bill’s father died of a heart attack when he was 72 or 74 years old, approximately 1975.
Ford Family – “recollections”
Recollections by Jean Cook
Bridget (Delia) Creed Ford
Bridget (Delia) Creed Ford was born in ??? in Tipperary Ireland. … Jean has lots more info….
Cousins
The O’Melia and Manion families are cousins on Jean’s father’s father’s side. They originally lived in Brooklyn but at the time of Jean’s father’s death, they lived in Chappaqua.
“Black Kate” Costello. They called her “Black Kate” because she was dark haired and brown eyed, uncommon for the Irish. She was what they called the “Black Irish”. In New York, she went to Horn and Hardart (cafeteria-style restaurant where you put nickels and dimes into the vending machines to get your food.) She sat at a table and waited to be served because she didn’t know it was self serve.