Gloria Maria Mocenigo, loving wife, mother, and grandmother, passed away on October 12, 2020. Formerly of Livingston, NJ, she died of natural causes, just two weeks shy of her 98th birthday.
Mrs. Mocenigo will be laid to rest at Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, where she will join her husband of 61 years, Ferruccio (1915-2007), and her father, Eugene DiRienzo (1887-1930). A private graveside service will be held in light of the current pandemic.
Born Gloria DiRienzo on October 27, 1922, she spent the first eight years of her life in New York City. After the sudden death of her father in 1930, Gloria moved with her mother; Adele, and her brother to Rome, where she lived until 1947. While working at the Italian oil company Agipshe, she met her future husband, Ferruccio Mocenigo, whom she married in 1946.
After the war she went back to New York. After a brief stint as a teacher with Berlitz, Gloria began raising a family in Queens. She had two sons while living in New York: Roger was her firstborn, followed two years later by John. After moving to Livingston in 1962, her third son, Anthony, was born a few years later. The family resided in Livingston for 42 years. Mrs. Mocenigo was a lifelong teacher, starting at St. Philomena’s Catholic School (now Aquinas Academy) in 1962.
After taking some time offto raise her youngest son, she went back to school and graduated, cum laude, from Caldwell College in 1974. She then resumed teaching, starting in Essex Fells, New Jersey from 1974-1980, and then East Orange, New Jersey before retiring in 1987.
Not content to sit idly by during her retirement, she learned to read Braille and translated several books for the blind until 2003. During those years she also cherished her role as daycare for her granddaughter, Marissa. From 2004-2014, she taught Italian at the Hunterdon County Senior Center.
Always proud of her Italian heritage, it is entirely appropriate that Gloria passed on Columbus Day. She traveled to Italy dozens of times, her final visit occurring for her 95th birthday in 2017. She was also known for her Italian cooking skills, a small portion of which she passed on to all her sons.
Gloria spent her sunset years in Lebanon Township before residing at Sunrise Assisted Living facility in Lafayette Hill, Pennsylvania. Her older brother; Eugene, predeceased her in 1993. She is survived by her three sons: Roger; John ...
