Leonora Violetta (Cetta) Cianciosi

Leonora Violetta (Cetta) Cianciosi, Vestal, NY

Journey of Life from: July 30, 1926 – March 5, 2025

“Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends.”  1 Corinthians 13 –14

Graduated Walton High School, Walton, NY – 1944

Graduated Binghamton City Hospital Nursing School, Binghamton, NY – 1947

NY State Registered Professional Nurse – 1948

Completed post graduate training through various Nursing Professional Courses, Syracuse University, NY – 1948-1950

Completed post graduate training in Cancer Nursing, New York University – 1950

Completed post graduate training in Home Visiting Public Health Nursing, Yonkers Health Department, Yonkers, NY – 1949

Decades of Volunteer Work:

In many Catholic Parochial Schools as a fundraiser, baker, reading program, health testing, classroom assistant, class mom

In Church Parishes work teaching religious classes, fundraising, bereavement lunches, Knights of Columbus Ladies Auxiliary

In the Blood Screening Program at Binghamton (City) General Hospital taking blood pressures

Our beloved mother, grandmother, great and great-great grandmother, Leonora, passed away peacefully at home, where she lived with her devoted family, on Wednesday, March 5, 2025. She was 98 + years young.

With the promise of spring flowers coming soon in NY, let us lovingly remember Leonora (Lee).  She was an intelligent, articulate, empathetic, strong, humorous, polite, generous, religious, and courteous woman who brought to our lives the love of family and friends, the willingness to listen, and the joy of life, laughter and celebrations.  She had amazing talents for delicious baking and cooking - and an incredible memory for detailed, historical (and often hysterical) storytelling about friends and family.  She had a deep love of American and European history which afforded her astute political insight.  She always carried herself with dignity and grace, maintaining a gentle but firm strength, a strong empathy for others, deep emotion and passion, and a kind demeanor.

Leonora was born to loving, Italian parents in Walton, NY, as the middle child of five, born to Joseph and Rose (Stasio) Cetta (both now deceased). Joseph was born in Chiaramonte, Italy and Rose in Walton, NY.  Leonora is predeceased by her loving husband of almost 70 years, Ugo, and her sisters Clara (husband Claude Salisbury), Kathleen (husband Ed Ray), and Concetta (Tootsie, husband John Findlay). She is survived by five children: her daughter, Patrice (Cianciosi) Britz (husband Reginald Britz), and her sons, David, Steven (wife Susan Cianciosi), Daniel (partner Tamala Garber), and John.  

Leonora has six dearly loved grandchildren: Hillary, Mark (wife Amanda Cianciosi), Zachary (wife Liza Cianciosi), Jeremy (wife Ashley Cianciosi), Joshua (wife Sarah Cianciosi), and Mikaela (Tamar Micha). She also cherished her eight great-grandchildren: Natalie (husband Niko Demetriades), Conner, Gabriella, Finn, Julianna, Colton, Amelia and Olivia; and three great-great grandchildren: Edmund (Demetriades), Sophia and Alice (Cianciosi).  She loved her only brother Mauro Cetta (partner Ruth Gama), and treasured her wonderful nieces, nephews along with their children, and her godchildren, with whom she shared many memories, holidays, dinners, celebrations and reunions over the years.

Leonora also kept many, many cherished friends and their children close to her.  She was grateful and appreciated them all her life.  If she could, she’d thank: Fran (Kearns) Howe, Marge (Hrusecky) Pavlik, Dorothy (Hrusecky) Medovich, Barbara Formanek, Peg Pasquale, Jackie Williams, Pauline Evangelisti, Mary Winterberger, Marilyn Bowen, Tommy Sullivan, Eileen Pineau, Rose Flederbach, Helen Gates and Jackie Adams to name just a few for their care. In addition, she also had many friends from her nursing and volunteering days whom she also kept close to her heart.

She would sing this song to remind us to cherish all who befriended us:

“Make new friends but keep the old: one is silver and the other gold.”

Leonora began her amazing life's journey growing up in Walton, NY, graduating from Walton High School in 1944, where she was an avid reader and won public speaking prizes for performing recitations of “In Flanders Fields”  by Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, when Walton had public WWI celebrations, and “The White Cliffs of Dover” by Alice Duer Miller.  She spent a lot of time in the library reading, was an Anglophile and an actress at the Walton Community Theatre.

After graduating, Leonora became one of the treasured US Army Nurse Cadets during WWII, who trained and served to alleviate the nursing shortage that existed in the USA before and during the war.  She proudly graduated in 1947 from the Binghamton City Hospital Nursing Program and continued ongoing studies at Syracuse University for Public Health Nursing and NYU for Cancer Nursing.  She worked as a Visiting Public Health Nurse in Yonkers, NY, and for the counties of Broome, Chenango, and Delaware and the City of Binghamton.  In 2015, to honor the women who served as nurses during this era in our country’s history fifty years before, a special ceremony and dinner was held in Washington, DC, and all the uniformed branches of the military came together to honor and celebrate the Nurse Cadets. She attended and was thrilled.

Leonora met and married her sweet and devoted husband, Ugo Cianciosi, from Endicott, NY on Thanksgiving Day in 1953. Ugo founded and ran the Cianciosi Insurance Agency here in the Triple Cities for over 60 years. Ugo and Leonora were married for almost 70 years, enjoying a rich and busy life full of children, a loving extended family, numerous yearly celebrations, joyful Italian traditions, delicious food and eventful activities. 

Leonora was a devoted parishioner of Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, Vestal, NY and a member of The Knights of Columbus Ladies Auxiliary.  She had a special devotion to Mary, St. Teresa of Avila, St. Francis of Assisi, and Blessed Mother Teresa.

Leonora loved to laugh and had a snarky, quick sense of humor.  She played an incredibly generous Mrs. Santa to her husband, children, and grandchildren every year, often finding just the perfect treasures with which to fill their individualized stockings – a definite highlight each Christmas morning.  She encouraged and proudly attended many of her children’s sporting events and theatre performances. She expressed her love and appreciation often and made life fun, even in challenging times.

Throughout her life, Leonora remained a remarkable, memorable, intelligent woman who shared many interests and talents with her large extended family: her love of literature, songs, poetry, plays, musicals, biographies, watching documentaries, celebrating global cultural traditions around the holidays, and her culinary and baking prowess are just a few. She made the very best Italian Tadal anise cookies, and they were often requested at gatherings.  Moments like these remain an indelible part of her family’s lifelong memories.

It’s too daunting a task when attempting to capture in writing the essence of one’s mother as we begin to convey all she means to us. Suffice it to say that this unique, rare, alert, interesting, religious woman, who was caring, kind, and appreciative of life, family and friends, has been cherished and loved for all her life. Leonora’s only daughter has had the privilege of knowing and loving her for over 25,600 days and will miss her deeply every single day for the rest of her life.

When evenings came, Leonora would sing this song to her young children and grandchildren when it was time for bed. Whenever they heard her sing just the beginning notes of this song, they would groan in protest in order to stay up longer:

"Now run along home and jump into bed, say your prayers, don't cover your head.  The very same thing I wish unto you:  You dream of me, and I’ll dream of you! Goodnight…”

We all love you so much - see you in our dreams!

A Memorial Mass will be held on Saturday, July 12, 2025 at Our Lady of Sorrows Church, 801 Main Street, Vestal NY 13850.  A calling hour from 9:30-10:30 a.m. will precede the 10:30 a.m. Mass and Nurse Honor Guard.    If you have any questions, please contact Patrice Britz at patricebritz@gmail.com

*If preferred, you can watch it live streamed at 10:30 a.m. EST on Our Lady of Sorrows YouTube channel (also available here for a week or two after Mass Service):  https://www.youtube.com/@OLSVestalNY

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