Minnie Amelia Banke Vietti Dunagon Kazmierski was a beloved woman by her family and many friends. At just 2 months shy of her 90th birthday, she died from an infection two weeks after undergoing a simple gall bladder removal. Up until the day of her surgery, she led an independent, busy life, living in her own home even continuing to drive around town. She was active in her rosary group and her bridge group and until recently, was an active volunteer at the local hospital. She was also the focal point, the glue which bound our family. I was her eldest grandchild, a distinction of which I am very proud.
Minnie was the predeceased by her three husbands: Michael Vietti, Vince Dunagon and Leonard Kazmierski.
She had three sons: Michael Vietti (my father), Anthony Vietti and Raymond Vietti. Her stepson, Tom Kazmierski, bears special mention because, though he was not hers by birth, she considered him to be her son in her heart.
As a grandmother, she was called "Nonie", a name from our Italian heritage, and there are 13 of us grandchildren, plus two more by marriage. Nonie was also great grandmother to 7 at the time of her death.
Her family, along with her many friends, will miss her but we know she is not truly gone. She will be waiting to greet us when we pass into the next phase of life and that thought comforts us and makes us smile, despite the loss of her physical presence.
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Look not where I was, for I'm not there
My spirit is free, I am everywhere.
In the air that you breathe,
In the sounds that you hear,
Don't cry for me.
My spirit is near.
I'll watch for you from the other side
I'll be the one waiting with arms open wide
Smile at my memory, remember in your heart.
This is not the end; it's a brand new start.
Dearest Nonie,
I won't tell you how much I loved you and how much you meant to me. I won't mention that you were one of the kindest, most loving and generous of souls that I have had the pleasure of knowing. I won't say how you were an excellent example of a daughter, parent, grandparent and friend. I won't elaborate that your caring and careful listening and sincere advice as well as your deep love for me reflected in your beautiful smile and voice filled with excitement and pleasure when you talked with me, profoundly impacted me. I won't say that your role model as a parent is what I strive to be as a mother and that someday, if God gives me the gift of grandchildren, I intend to be a "Nonie", just like you.
No, those things are obvious and I would be redundant to say them.
What I will say is that although I miss your physical presence, hearing your voice every week or so on the telephone, I know that you will be with me and my family all of the time.
I know you wanted to go to the boys basketball games but could not attend due to physical distance and limitation. This season, you will be at every single game. You were always fretting whenever I travelled for work; now, you will be coming with me, chiding me for not putting a distinctive bright ribbon on my suitcase to distinguish it from the sea of black luggage in the airport baggage claim areas. You will be at our celebrations: the graduations, confirmations, weddings and births in the years to come. You will be at our side during tribulations and suffering, your arm wrapped around us when we mourn the loss of our family through death in years to come.
You will be in two, three, four, ten or more places at once, all at the same time; anywhere, anytime, all over the world with your family and friends.
Thank you, Nonie, for being such a wonderful part of my life. You have shaped me as a person and a human being and I still strive to follow your example. If, at the end of my life, I have become half the person you were, I will have been a wonderful woman indeed.
I love you forever
I like you for always
As long as I'm living
My Nonie you'll be.
All my love, Suzette
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