Rose (DeMarc) Fratini

Rose DeMarc was born in the small town of West Pittsburg, Taylor Township, Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, on May 19, 1918. She was the seventh child born to Charles DeMarc and Mary (DeMatteo) DeMarc, both of whom immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s from the rural area north of Naples, Italy. It was not until years later that Rose learned she was baptized as Rose Domenica DeMarc.

Mary, who spoke both English and Italian, grew up in West Pittsburg and attended the West Pittsburg Public School right off Center Avenue. In the fall of 1925, at the age of seven, she started the first grade and had Catherine Howell as her teacher. Among her classmates were Nick Santangelo, Anna Sanfelice, and Mike De Angelo. She graduated from the eighth grade, with John N. Cornelius as her teacher and principal, in the spring of 1933 when she was fifteen years old. Like most of her fellow students she did not attend high school, but instead began to seek employment to help her family during the tough times of the Great Depression.

In the coming years she continued to live at the DeMarc family home in West Pittsburg, but would frequently visit her older sister Madeline (Mary) and her growing family in North Canton, Ohio. Madeline was good friends with an Italian woman named Angelina Fratini, and Rose met her son Alessandro during one of her visits (possibly in late 1939 or early 1940). Alessandro, known as Albert or simply as Alex, was born on April 16, 1912, in Onano, Italy, and had immigrated to the United States with his parents Mario and Angelina (Bisizoni) Fratini. Alex was employed in Canton at the Timken Roller Bearing Company, a prosperous company that manufactured bearing for railroad cars, automobiles, and farming equipment.

Rose and Alex were engaged and soon married in West Pittsburg on Saturday, November 30, 1940. Rose was aged twenty-two and Alex was twenty-eight. The newlyweds lived with Alex’s elderly parents in Canton, as he was their sole financial support. They later bought their own house in Canton. Alex was a devout Catholic and they became longtime parishioners at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

They would eventually have two children born to them. Their first child, Angeline Carol Fratini, known as Angie and named after Alex’s mother, was born on Tuesday, December 23, 1941. Angie was born during a time of great national emergency as the United States had just entered World War II. The Fratini’s soon had company. Later during the war, Rose’s brother Mike DiMarco – serving in the U.S. Army - moved his wife Mary (Iannarelli) and infant daughter Shari from Detroit, Michigan, to live with the Fratini’s in Canton. Mike and Mary’s second child, daughter Diana, was born in Canton in November 1944 and baptized at St. Joseph’s. After the war Mike and his family moved back to Detroit.

The Fratini’s second child, Mary Ann Fratini, was born on Sunday, January 14, 1951. Both of their daughters had a strict Catholic upbringing and attended St. Joseph’s Catholic School. Rose worked at the school cafeteria as a cook for many years. She was well known for her cooking prowess and the school kids (and her family members) were especially fond of her pizza.

Angie, over nine years older than her sister Mary Ann, was married at the young age of eighteen. In April 1960, she married U.S. Army Pfc. Thomas A. “Tom” Butchko at St. Joseph’s and they soon settled in nearby Massillon. They eventually provided Rose and Alex with three grandchildren before being divorced in 1976. Mary Ann grew up, moved to Baltimore, Maryland, and was married to Greek immigrant Panagiotis “Pete” Mourmouris in January 1976. They divorced with no children in September 1982 and she was happily remarried soon after to Mark “Todd” Smith Jr.

Alex was very fond of his hometown in Italy and made three trips to the old country over the years. Rose went with him on one trip in approximately 1975-76. (NOTE: I remember my family went to Friendship International Airport (now BWI) near Baltimore to meet Alex and Rose on the way back from Italy on this trip. My grandmother Irene (LaPatka) DeMarc and Rose’s daughter Mary Ann were also on hand.)

Alex, after a seven-year-long battle with cancer, died in Canton on June 17, 1982, at the age of seventy. He spent the last few months of his life in the hospital and Rose was by his side constantly. Rose said despite what he went through he was very peaceful at the end. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery just outside Canton. Rose took the loss of her longtime husband very hard. Years later she wrote to me and said, “We had 43 years together when my husband died. It was not all peaches and cream but we were survivors and stuck it out. I was old fashioned and he was my first & last love.”

As if dealing with Alex’s death was not enough the family was already suffering from another painful episode. Twenty-one-year-old John “Butch” Butchko, Rose’s grandson and Angie’s oldest son, was severely injured in terrible motorcycle accident in Ohio a few weeks earlier on May 30. He survived but was comatose with severe brain damage. He would remain it that condition for over a decade.

Rose lived alone the rest of her life, but was fortunate to have daughter Angie (who was remarried to James P. Reece in 1983) nearby in Massillon to help her out. Rose wrote to me in January 1993 and said, “I have my daughter Angie here and she is a Jewel. She calls me every day as soon as she gets home from work. All she says is that she is I’m checking up on you are you ok, do you need anything…” It was hard not having her youngest daughter closer (Mary Ann was still in Maryland) and Rose really missed seeing her more often.

Rose developed her own share of medical problems and in the about 1991 she found out she had a bone disorder called Paget’s Disease. As a result she underwent an operation to have a hip and part of her femur replaced. Her health continued to decline over the next few years but she was always a real trooper.

Rose was always tormented by Butch’s condition and visited him in the hospital quite often. Butch passed away in June 1993 after being comatose for eleven years. Rose wrote to me soon after and said, “I guess the Good Lord finally showed his mercy and called him home. It is hard to lose a loved one.”

The harsh winters of Ohio were hard on her and she developed severe arthritis and serious heart trouble. Eventually she was hospitalized. After an extended illness Rose passed away at Columbia Mercy Medical Center in Canton at 9:20am on Friday, January 31, 1997. She was seventy-eight years old.

A viewing was held at the Don Williams Funeral Home in Canton at 6:00-8:00pm on Sunday, February 2. At 10:00 am the next morning a Mass of Christian Burial service was held at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, followed by interment next for her husband at Calvary Cemetery. She is still dearly missed by her family. Ten years later, in February 2007, her daughter Angie wrote to me and said, ‘She was a wonderful person and we miss her very much.”