Theresa Antoinette Cuomo RN was born in 1921 in New Haven CT. She was the beloved daughter of Joseph and Giovanna Marino. She left us, peacefully, at home in Stuart, Florida, on May 31, 2016 at the age of 94 ½ surrounded by her family.
She was predeceased by her husband, Lt.Col. Steven D. Cuomo, her daughter, Roseanna E Cuomo, her sister, Elizabeth Amato and her brother Benny Marino.
She leaves behind her son and daughter in law, Thomas and Peggy Cuomo of El Paso TX. Her daughter and son in law, Elise and Jay DeFrank of Farmington, CT. Her daughter Charlene Cuomo of Milford, CT. Her grandchildren; Jes DeFrank, Dave DeFrank, Steven Ronshagen and Lee Ronshagen. Her Great Granddaughter, Ellie Mae Ronshagen and her sister, Agnes DeNello of Milford.
Theresa graduated from Saint Raphael’s Hospital in 1942 as a Registered Nurse. Shortly after graduating she married Lt. Stephen D. Cuomo who was in the Army Air Corps, the present day, US Air Force, and moved to California where she had her first daughter, Roseanna Cuomo. After WWII they lived in Florida where Steve exported Cadillac’s to Cuba, during that time, he also was a promoter for Perry Como in New Haven. Recalled to active duty during the Korean War, they began their life again as an Air Force Family. Theresa boarded a ship with two small children and headed to Japan to be one of the first American families in that country after WWII. That began an odyssey of traveling the world and feeling the effects of geopolitics and conflicts for the next twenty years.
While in Japan she took Japanese flower arranging and painting lessons. She continued her artistic endeavors when they lived in Évreux, France, also becoming a Brownie Leader and now raising four children. When she returned stateside, she also returned to nursing. In Virginia, she started as an emergency room nurse and moved to the operating room and also assisted in delivering babies. Air Force life continued to dominate until after Vietnam when her husband retired and passed away from the effects of Agent Orange. She had returned to Connecticut and to nursing full time by then, at first working in hospitals, then taking on private duty patients. Theresa was Filomina Pepe’s, of Pepe’s Pizza in New Haven, nurse for years. Eventually she returned to hospital work at Milford Hospital where she worked all three shifts until she retired in 1993.
After retiring at age 72, that Air Force gypsy life exerted its inexorable pull and she moved to Denver to live with her oldest daughter and near her son and daughter-in-law. When they pulled up stakes in the late 1990’s and moved to San Diego, she followed and spent more than a decade in her beloved California, this time living with her son.
At 90 she moved in with her youngest daughter, son-in-law and grandson living in both Connecticut and Florida. Never one to be left behind she continued traveling until the end, marveling the doctors who found her bright and alert discussing her health with them during her last days as if she was still on duty.
A trooper until the end, she was asking for hot dogs, olives and bourbon while in the cardiac ward just a few weeks before the end.
She embraced technology at 90, got an IPad and became a Facebook monster -- she never met a friend request she didn’t like.
Her life was defined by family, Air Force, being Italian American, and always the consummate nurse.
Among her last words were, “Am I still pretty?” And, she was, beautiful right up to the end. She will be sorely missed.
There will be a burial, officiated by her grandson, Dave DeFrank, on August 13th at Saint Lawrence Cemetery, 280 Derby Ave, New Haven CT. at 9:30 AM. Followed by a Memorial Mass at St Michael’s Church, 29 Wooster PL , New Haven, CT at 11:00 AM.
