Frances Marie Gagliardi (Caffaro)

Born April 15, 1915, Brooklyn, NY – June 23rd, 2024, Lake Ariel, PA

Fran was the oldest of seven sisters and was matriarch of one of the founding families of the Sheepshead Bay area of Brooklyn. The sisters put down roots and could be found along Dooley Street and Bedford Avenue and this is where Fran met and married Frank Gagliardi.

Fran was a staple of St. Mark's Parish and you could find her stationed at her favorite pew. She also rode buses and trains and covered block after block of Brooklyn on foot running the errands of a large Italian family. She was fully independent until 2012's superstorm Sandy. If a nursing home was suggested due to her increasing age, she'd reply with her classic, "Yeah, sure!" If told that it was unsafe for her to be living on her own, you'd also hear a classic, "You're full of soup!"

Granny Franny loved her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren more than words. In fact, she didn't need words. Each loved one had an important 8x10 framed photo of them on her sideboard table. As her table filled to the edges with frames, so too did her love for her family.

In her last act of first-born overachievement, Fran couldn't let any of her sisters go last and lived to her 109th year passing away on June 23, 2024. This act comes with a huge sign-on bonus: a reunion with family and friends she has not seen in a long time including her husband, Frank Gagliardi who passed away in 1979 and all six of her sisters: Nini, Minnie, Stella, Nan, Katie, and Mary. Now that they are together again, they are happily wearing their house coats, making Easter bread, baking chocolate chip cheesecake, and making sure to add toothpicks to the sausage much like they would at many a holiday table that stretched from one end of the house to the other. Toothpicks mean spicy!

Fran leaves behind her children: Frank (Peggy) Gagliardi and Phyllis (Arthur) DeMeo; grandchildren: Christina Gagliardi, Frank Gagliardi, Arthur (Jennifer) DeMeo, and Stephanie DeMeo (Shara); and great grandchildren: Sara, Briana, Isabella, and Caeden.

The family is forever in debt to Fran's nephew, Patrick Ciccarone and his family, for coming to Fran's aid and caring for her in the wake of superstorm Sandy.

The family would also like to acknowledge the staff at Julia Ribaudo Extended Care Center in Lake Ariel, PA where Fran spent the remainder of her incredible life and where staff lovingly called her Grandma.

Calling hours will be Tuesday, June 25, from 3 to 7 PM at English Brothers Funeral Home, 2203 Avenue Z, Brooklyn, NY 11235. The funeral mass will be Wednesday, June 25, at 9:45 AM at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church, 2609 East 19th St., Brooklyn, NY. Burial will follow in St. Charles Cemetery, Farmingdale, NY.