DiSalvo, Nicholena

Nicholena DiSalvo, 83, of Blacksburg, Va., passed into eternal life on Thursday, September 13, 2007. Nicholena was born in Rochester, N.Y. to Giuseppe and Carmela Cardella; attended Mercy High School; and enjoyed 51 years of marriage to Richard M. DiSalvo, Sr., who passed away in 1998.

Surviving Nicholena are four sons and daughters-in-law, Charles DiSalvo and Kathleen Kennedy of Morgantown, W.Va., Joseph and Joanne Baecher DiSalvo of Hastings-on-Hudson, N.Y., Richard and Susan Guthrie DiSalvo of Blacksburg, and Eugene and Ann Kellogg DiSalvo of Richmond, Va.; 12 grandchildren, Clare, Maura, Philip, Julia (and husband Thomas Drake), Andrew, Katherine, Patrick, Michael, Elizabeth, Peter, Lauren, and Greggory; sisters-in-law, Frances DiSalvo and Geraldine Cardella of Rochester; and nieces and nephews, Dolores (William Cooper), Mary (Paul Karpinko), Joseph Cardella (Ellen), Mary Ann (Lawrence Locke), Grace Ann (James Tischer) and Charles DiSalvo (Sharon). Three brothers predeceased Nicholena, Gino, Michael, and Nicholas.

Nicholena, while a homemaker, worked part-time in the circulation department of Gannett Newspapers in Rochester and upon her and Richard’s retirement, enjoyed winters in Nalcrest, Fla. and summers on Waneta Lake in Hammondsport, N.Y.

A resident of Warm Hearth Village since 1997, Nicholena volunteered at the Kroontje Health Care Center and the Showalter Center and was named Warm Hearth’s Volunteer of the Year in the year 2000. Well known as a baker, Nicholena delivered her homemade breads and cookies to her many friends and relatives up to the week before her passing. Nicholena inspired all who knew her with her loving manner and quiet persistence in the face of Parkinson’s Disease and cancer.

The family will receive visitors at St. Mary’s Catholic Church, in Blacksburg on Friday, September 14, 2007, between 9 and 11 a.m. followed there by a Mass of Christian Burial which will be celebrated at 11:15 a.m. Nicholena will be interred at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Rochester, N.Y. on Saturday, September 22, 2007 at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Carilion Hospice Services, 707 Randolph Street, Radford, Va., 24141 or Warm Hearth Inc., 2603 Warm Hearth Drive, Blacksburg, Va. 24060. Arrangements by McCoy Funeral Home, 150 Country Club Dr., Blacksburg, Va.