Mary Clarizio

Dear Dad, Mom has missed you for over six years and now she is with you, with her recipes in hand! Your loving wife, Mary (Maria Angelina) Clarizio (nee Garaffa), died at Resurrection Medical Center on December 19, 2017. Mary was born May 26, 1920 in Gary, Indiana, the daughter of Joseph (Giuseppe) and Aurora (nee Marino) Garaffa. Her parents had immigrated from Calabria, Italy. At an early age her family moved to Chicago’s “Little Italy” on Taylor Street. Mary quit school after 8th Grade to help support her family during the Great Depression. She started her work life in 1934 for .20 cents an hour at Fascination Candy on Walnut Street in Chicago. In 1937 she was employed by Jack Davis Custom Shirts on Wabash Avenue as a buttonholer for $1.00 an hour. On May 25, 1947, Mary wed Jerry (Gennaro Antonio) Clarizio, deceased, at Holy Family Church in Chicago, after he returned from service in World War II. They were married for over 64 years, when Jerry passed in 2011. Mary continued working from 1947 to 1952 at Bieler & Levine Jewelers on Wabash Avenue, to support her husband while he attended school at DePaul University on the GI Bill. In 1952 she changed jobs once again, becoming a homemaker and mother. She later worked at the Marshall Field Warehouse once her children were grown. Mary was proceeded in death by her husband, her parents and her siblings, James (Vincenzo), Anna (nee Crescenzo), Elmer (Almerino), Sam (Salvatore), and Peter (Pietro) Garaffa and their spouses. She is survived her sons Gerald (Toni) and Richard (Diane Sharrow), her grandchildren Laura, Renee Cahill (Dan), Anthony, Christopher and Nicholas, and her great-granddaughters Grace and Claire. She is also survived by her loving sister Edith (Aida) Bonsonto, and numerous nieces and nephews. Visitation Friday December 22, 9:30 a.m. until time of Funeral Service at 11:30 a.m. at Cumberland Chapels, 8300 W. Lawrence Ave., Norridge, IL. Private Entombment All Saints Mausoleum. Please omit flowers. Info 708-456-8300 or www.cumberlandchapels.com.