Aunt Toni

Mary Antoinette Sciutti was my aunt. My first real memory of her was on the day of her wedding. I was her flower girl. I remember getting my hair done up. Everyone else was swimming and playing in the pool at the hotel just before the wedding, but I wasn't allowed to get my head wet because it would mess up my hair. I remember watching my uncle and aunt walk down the aisle and how pretty she was in her wedding dress. Many years later, Aunt Toni's granddaughter, McKenna, was my flower girl.

This photograph was taken a few years later at her baby shower in 1969. My cousin Lisa was on her way! That's me seated with my back to the camera, and my cousin Karen with a bow in her hair sitting next to me.

Aunt Toni's life was spent in the service of others. Her family was her first calling, but she was also a registered nurse by profession. Aunt Toni was one of the most beautiful and courageous women I have ever known. If she thought we were doing something wrong, she was never afraid to tell us, even after we grew into adulthood. She always corrected us with kindness and an abundance of charity. She was a devout Catholic and I believe that was a source of much strength for her.

She was someone who radiated an inner strength and peace even in the most difficult of times. When she was diagnosed with acinic cell carcinoma, a tumor of the salivary gland, in the late 1990s, she fought it for almost ten years with grace and dignity - even after it metastasized to her jaw, and then her brain. Surgery left her with a massive scar, but even so, surgeons were not able to remove all of the tumor. Gradually over the years, the tumor robbed her of the ability to eat and affected her speech, before finally taking her life.

Aunt Toni was undaunted. She made chocolate truffles, and other goodies, for our family get togethers. When she could no longer eat, she created homemade perfumed soaps and lotions as gifts for us. We always looked forward to the butter lamb that she would make for our Easter dinners.

I miss her gentle yet courageous spirit and her sense of humor. As I hike these next several months, Aunt Toni will never be far from my thoughts.