Marie Sartor Pawelek was born 100 years ago in Eveleth, Minnesota, the only child of Luigi and Eva (Pivetta) Sartor. Her parents emigrated from a small town near Venice, Italy. With all of their relatives back home in Italy, Pawelek’s parents socialized with their Italian neighbors. Luigi joined the Order Sons of Italy in America and Eva was active in the Sacred Heart Society of their church.

Their parish priest built a bocce court, hoping to entice the men to attend Mass. Pawelek chuckles as she remembers, “The windows of the church were open and he’s doing a sermon and he’s hearing these Italian men swearing outside and he had the altar boy go and close all the windows.”