Mother’s age doesn’t stop her dancing
I don’t know if you knew your mom, or if you did what her personality was like. I hope you were lucky like me. I have a mom who certainly had faults like all of us but was always great in my eyes.
Josephine Rea (Smith) was born over ninety-three years ago in Troy, New York. Her mother, Josephine, was a homemaker and a factory worker and her father, John, an electrician. Her sister, Kay Esposito, said that mom was “very tough.” When I asked for clarification, Aunt Kay said that when she had a goal that she pursued it feverishly. Aunt Kay also mentioned that she was really good-looking, dressed nicely and what a surprise, “loved to dance even when she was young kid.”
At age seventeen, mom’s plans for the future and family life were traumatically interrupted. Her nineteen year old brother “Sonny” was killed in WWII. Her immediate response, to his death, was to join the Army. She served during WW II as a military police officer. We still have a picture of her riding a horse on duty with a forty-five caliber pistol strapped to her hip. After the war she made a career as a factory worker, waitress and bartender.
She was married to my father Carl, in the late forties. He was a hardworking laborer from a middle class German family. They enjoyed bringing two children into the world, my sister and I. As I look back, I just think they were really very different ethnically. She was the provocative, passionate, and socially engaging Italian and he was the more stoic and reserved German.
In the early sixties, Jimmy Durante, the famous entertainer, came to Troy to get married at St. Anthony’s church where his friend, Fr. Thomas Deluca, was the pastor. Jimmy put together a great show at the RPI field house to benefit the parish. Mom was one of the principal dancers and also did some choreography. To this day, I still hear her lament, “I should have gone to Hollywood.”
I wouldn’t call it a personality flaw but my sister, Carla, said accurately, “Animals make mom happier than humans.” If you see us in public and you have any animal on a leash, avoid us, because my mother may accuse you of “choking your pet.” Her granddaughter, Crystal, added, “I have always admired her passion - whether for animals or dancing, she loves it with her whole heart, and her joy is genuine and abundant.”
Yes, the dancing is mentioned again. My sister said, “Mom is the happiest when she’s dancing and everyone is watching how talented she is and how gracefully she performs. You can see the sparkle in her eyes when she’s on the dance floor.”
Every few weeks, a large number of seniors get to see that sparkle when she sings, dances with her cane, and makes jokes at a local nurs-
I hope you were lucky like me. I have a momwho certainly had faults like all of us but was always great in my eyes.
ing home in front of a very enthusiastic audience. Recently, when tap dancing down the aisle, an audience member held her hand, and refused to let go, so Josephine, winking and working the crowd, said, “Sorry, fella, wrong number!”, and .laughed, and everybody laughed, and she then said, “Thank you, it makes me feel good that you enjoy what I do and what I love.”
In 1983 an American developmental psychologist Howard Gardener of Harvard, described 9 types of intelligence. Mom doesn’t have Logicalmathematical (number/reasoning smart) or Linguistic (word smart) intelligence probably due to her lack of formal education. However, she does have at least three of the other intelligences mentioned by Gardener - Existential ( life smart), Interpersonal (people smart) and certainly Musical (sound smart).
Finally, with regard to her personality, she has a great sense of humor, and my niece says, “She is independent and more liberal than most women half her age. She is truly one of a kind.”