My grandmother Serefina in many ways fits the stereotype of the hardworking southern Italian immigrant. At age 16, she came to America with her family in the early 1920s. They were seeking a better life and future than they foresaw in Stefanaconi in Calabria. In Italy, she had had little formal education; in America she married my grandfather Nicola, from Stefanaconi, and bore six children at home. She provided endless good things for the family: bread, fruits and vegetables, chickens and eggs.

But Serefina was much more than a provider of good things to eat. She was smart, funny, generous and kind—the heart of our family as well as of the Italian community in Larchmont, New York. She was also a dauntless entrepreneur, a leader and a team builder—a mover and shaker. One family story, in particular, exemplifies these qualities.