Madeline (DeMarc) Venditti/Lightfoot

Madeline DeMarc (called Mary by friends and family) was born in the small town of West Pittsburg, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, July 9, 1908. She was the first child born to Charles DeMarc and Mary (DeMatteo) DeMarc, both of whom immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s from the area near Naples, Italy.

Madeline DeMarc (called Mary by friends and family) was born in the small town of West Pittsburg, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on Thursday, July 9, 1908. She was the first child born to Charles DeMarc and Mary (DeMatteo) DeMarc, both of whom immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s from the area near Naples, Italy.

Mary, who spoke both English and Italian, grew up in West Pittsburg and attended the West Pittsburg Public School. She must have started school late, because in the 1921-1922 school year (when she was age twelve) she was attending the 4th grade with her younger siblings Ralph and Josephine. Her teacher, who oversaw a combined 3rd and 4th grade class of fifty-two students, was Mrs. Vogan. Some of their classmates included Frank Caravella, Andy Fondozzi, Merle Papa, Mary Nerti, and Pasquale Santangelo. A year later, in December 1922, Mary is in the 5th grade and had Helen A. Galbreath as her teacher. Mary had a perfect attendance record and is one of only seven 5th graders on the honor roll.

Mary graduated from the 8th grade in the spring of 1926. Like most other students she did not attend high school, but instead found work to help support her family. She would have been seventeen years of age anyway and ready to face adulthood.

Sometime after this she met an Italian immigrant named Sante Venditti who was ten years her elder. Sante, called “Sunday” by some of his closet friends, was born in the northern Italian town of Fondiano on March 10, 1899. Sante had fought for the Italian Army during the Great War (World War I) and had subsequently immigrated to the United States. He initially made his way to thriving small town of Grafton, West Virginia, and worked in one of its several glass factories, before moving up to the New Castle area to seek different work (possibly on the railroad).

It’s not known if he ever worked on the railroad but he was employed at Medusa Cement Company in Wampum. His actual residence in the Wampum area is unknown but it seems he was friends with the Fabian family of lower Chewton. This family lived next to the small former church building on the hill heading down into Lower Chewton – not far from where the Sbarra’s Chewton Diary was located.

Mary and Sante were married (they possibly eloped) sometime in approximately 1927 and moved to the small village of Middlebranch, just north of Canton, Ohio. Middlebranch was adjacent to the Diamond Portland Cement Company, where Sante and many other Italians found work as laborers. Their first child, a girl named Caroline, was born on July 30, 1928. Three more children followed while they lived in Middlebranch: Rose (“Honey”) in January 1931, Paul in June 1932, and Anthony in September 1934.

Sante apparently had serious health (breathing) issues working in an environment with all the cement dust. He starting looking for a new job, but during the hard economic times of the 1930’s finding employment was difficult. Sante and Mary, with their three young kids, contemplated moving to Italy and apparently applied for passports. They changed their minds at the last minute possibly because Sante was fortunate to be hired on with the growing Hoover Company (the famous electric vacuum cleaner manufacturer) in nearby North Canton. Sometime in approximately late 1934-early 1936 they packed up and moved out of Middlebranch and into a farm house they bought in nearby North Canton.

Sante and Mary had four more children, all born at the farm house in North Canton: Frank in April 1936, Josephine in March 1938, Mary Lou in November 1942, and finally Richard in December 1948. Mary’s sister Rose DeMarc, who married Alex Fratini in 1940, lived nearby in Canton. Five of her siblings, including Josephine, Pete, Lou, George, and Mike, all made their way out to Detroit, Michigan, by the early 1940’s.

Mary’s brothers Lou, George, Pete, and Charles Jr. would all see service in the military during World War II. Unfortunately, her dear brother Lou (whose name Mary had given to her youngest daughter Mary Lou) was killed in action in southern France in August 1944. Even worse yet Mary’s father Charles Sr., heartbroken over the loss of his favorite son Lou, grew ill with heart problems and was bedridden for several years.

The year 1947 was one of great change for Mary. In early May her daughter Honey was married at the age of sixteen. Later in the same month, on May 21, her father Charles, who had been ill for several years, passed away back at home in West Pittsburg. Sometime in that same year Mary joined her husband and went to work at Hoover. She would make a career at Hoover and would be employed there for the next twenty-five years.

Sante was a hard worker and an extremely gruff man by most accounts. On the softer side Sante was known to play the piano and at times the family would all gather around the sing. Mary was mild-mannered and a very caring woman who adored her children. In the coming years Mary and Sante made frequent visits back to West Pittsburg to visit her widowed mother and youngest brother Charles Jr.

As the younger Venditti children were growing up (or just being born) the older kids were starting to move out. Most of her grown children did not go far and settled in the Canton area. Youngest son Rich enlisted in the U.S. Army right out of high school in 1968 and was soon off to distant Vietnam. He took part in dangerous recon missions, but fortunately returned home safely.

Not long after Rich returned stateside (to Fort Hood in Texas) the Venditti family suffered the loss of their patriarch. Sante, at the age of seventy-one, passed away on May 19, 1970, and subsequently buried in Forest Hill Cemetery in Canton. Mary was extremely saddened by his death. She said the farm house reminded her of Sante and she wanted to move out right away. She stayed in their home as long as she could. In 1972 she retired from Hoover, sold the property, and moved into a house in Canton.

Mary lived in Canton and eventually remarried to George D. Lightfoot, born in 1903, in the early 1980’s. Her new husband was a long-time amateur radio enthusiast and retired radio engineer who had worked at AM radio station WHBC in North Canton.

George died on November 24, 1987, and once again Mary was alone. She continued to stay active and eventually moved to McCormick, South Carolina, to live with her daughter Mary Lou (and her husband Jack Perry). Mary grew ill in early 1996 and battled illness most of the year. She passed away on Wednesday, January 8, 1997, at the age of eighty-eight. Unfortunately, her daughter Mary Lou, at age fifty-eight, died of brain cancer just four years later.

A viewing for Mary was held from 7-9pm on January 10 at the Lamiell Funeral Home in Canton. The next day a service was held at 2pm at the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church and presided over by Father John Nentwick. After the service her family and friends gathered at the mausoleum at Forest Hill Cemetery. The cemetery was covered in thick snow and the mourners, who said their final goodbyes at the mausoleum, did not go to the actual grave site. Mary was laid to rest next to her first husband Sante Venditti.