Obituary for Violet Jean Piro (Riddle)
Violet Jean Piro passed away Sunday, July 19th with family and friends at her side.
Born with whooping cough during an unusual 1921 deep freeze, in Montreal Canada, and not expected to survive, her mom, Grace Riddle, lovingly named her newborn baby for her best friend, Violet. A herculean effort from mom and father, Allan Gordon, saved Violet’s life and from then on she was called “Jean”.
In the mid 1920’s the Riddles, Jean, sister Margaret and brothers Kenneth, Allan and Douglas, migrated to Brooklyn, New York. Here Jean attended Hunter College Model School. With a passion for math, she scored 100 on her math regency exam and always cherished the sterling silver “M” awarded by New York State.
The Riddle family ultimately moved to Nutley in the early 1940’s where Jean met and married Patrick Piro. They purchased the “Piro” family house, on 41 New Street and called that home, for their entire lives. Predeceased by Patrick, the only love of her life, in 1966, Jean continued to follow her passion for math and enrolled in nighttime math classes at Rutgers, Newark, earning her BA.
She embraced traveling around the world, working at the Nutley public library, putting son Peter and daughter Marge through college, sharing the lives of grandchildren, nieces and nephews and knitting professional quality fisherman knit sweaters for family and friends.
Jean spent her last two years being cared for by daughter Marge and husband Jim at their Jersey shore home in Brigantine. “Mrs. P” as she was known at the shore, told all visitors she had to keep busy and so you could find her in the sunroom, playing video games, knitting, doing word puzzles or watching her favorite game shows. Happy Hour, a small glass of red wine, a few carrots and a piece of Cabot cheddar was served every day at 4:30pm. Cheers, Mrs. P.
Mom leaves behind son Peter and wife Marianne as well as their children Todd and Scott and great granddaughter Zoe, and daughter Marge and husband Jim and their daughter Kimberley and her children Joey and Cassidy.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity or
Amy’s Angels, 90 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 06089
https://.www.amysangels.org/
Services are private and are being handled by SW Brown and Son funeral home.
Born with whooping cough during an unusual 1921 deep freeze, in Montreal Canada, and not expected to survive, her mom, Grace Riddle, lovingly named her newborn baby for her best friend, Violet. A herculean effort from mom and father, Allan Gordon, saved Violet’s life and from then on she was called “Jean”.
In the mid 1920’s the Riddles, Jean, sister Margaret and brothers Kenneth, Allan and Douglas, migrated to Brooklyn, New York. Here Jean attended Hunter College Model School. With a passion for math, she scored 100 on her math regency exam and always cherished the sterling silver “M” awarded by New York State.
The Riddle family ultimately moved to Nutley in the early 1940’s where Jean met and married Patrick Piro. They purchased the “Piro” family house, on 41 New Street and called that home, for their entire lives. Predeceased by Patrick, the only love of her life, in 1966, Jean continued to follow her passion for math and enrolled in nighttime math classes at Rutgers, Newark, earning her BA.
She embraced traveling around the world, working at the Nutley public library, putting son Peter and daughter Marge through college, sharing the lives of grandchildren, nieces and nephews and knitting professional quality fisherman knit sweaters for family and friends.
Jean spent her last two years being cared for by daughter Marge and husband Jim at their Jersey shore home in Brigantine. “Mrs. P” as she was known at the shore, told all visitors she had to keep busy and so you could find her in the sunroom, playing video games, knitting, doing word puzzles or watching her favorite game shows. Happy Hour, a small glass of red wine, a few carrots and a piece of Cabot cheddar was served every day at 4:30pm. Cheers, Mrs. P.
Mom leaves behind son Peter and wife Marianne as well as their children Todd and Scott and great granddaughter Zoe, and daughter Marge and husband Jim and their daughter Kimberley and her children Joey and Cassidy.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to your favorite charity or
Amy’s Angels, 90 Hopmeadow Street, Simsbury, CT 06089
https://.www.amysangels.org/
Services are private and are being handled by SW Brown and Son funeral home.