Theresa Ciccone has spent the first 100 years of her life serving others, part of her greater mission to serve God.
"The reason why everybody loves her is because she was always there to help," said Miss Ciccone's niece, Rosie Gross, with whom she lives on Ranck Avenue. "She'd dig you out."
Miss Ciccone was known to lend her friends money or to set them up with jobs at RCA, where she worked for 35 years.
More importantly, Gross said, she's always there to confide in.
Gross said that while she and her siblings were growing up, they'd often turn to Miss Ciccone for advice before they'd go to their parents.
"She's a beautiful person," Gross said. "She doesn't make any demands."
Nor has she ever.
Miss Ciccone, who celebrated her 100th birthday Saturday, was the second of four daughters born to Francesco and Louisa Pugliese of Steelton, Dauphin County.
Miss Ciccone's mother died when she was just 5. Her aunt and uncle, Lucy and John Tripiccio, offered to raise one of the girls. They said they wanted to take the oldest, Miss Ciccone's sister Rosa.
But Rosa "pitched a fit," and they took Theresa instead.
Miss Ciccone lived with her aunt and uncle in the Harlem section of New York City, until the couple decided to move to Italy.
When she was 16, Miss Ciccone moved to Lancaster County, where her father and siblings were living.
Theresa's father changed his last name to Ciccone when he moved to Lancaster.
Miss Ciccone never married, but often went out with friends to help them "hunt for their husbands."
"When they were young, they were kind of rebels," Gross said of Miss Ciccone and her sister, Rosa.
The two would tell their father they were attending dances or drama practice at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, and they'd sneak off somewhere else. Gross wasn't sure where and Miss Ciccone didn't say.
On Sundays, however, Miss Ciccone attended the church in earnest, even if there was a blizzard.
"She never willingly missed Mass on Sunday," Gross said. "She's a very wonderful person."
Miss Ciccone has two nieces and one nephew; seven great-nieces and great-nephews; eight great-great
Staff writer Liz Navratil can be reached at lnavratil@LNPnews.com or 481-6014.
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