OBITUARY: Life wove her a beautiful tapestry

Armanda Pace – known by all as Nonna – was born in 1928 in the Italian Alps, and died in Zululand after spending over half her life in Empangeni.

Her early childhood was idyllic, until the devastating loss of her mother and the advent of World War 2 when she fled to neutral Switzerland with her brothers who were just 10 and three years old.

After ensuring the little boys were safe with a Swiss family, she undertook an arduous walk back over the Alps to return home, where she lived with her Nonna and made clothing and blankets to see them through the War.

When peace was declared, she rejoined her family and resumed her studies.

And it was then that life began to weave a colourful tapestry when she met and married Mario – to whom she would remain lovingly married for 60 years.

Together with their young sons Silvio, Fulvio and Claudio, and daughter Manuela they settled in Africa – enduring many hardships and heartache, but also an abundance of love, success and joy.

Settled in Zululand, and happily surrounded by a growing family that soon included daughters-in-law Teresa, Michelle and Kim and son-in-law Michael, their friends would join the family in helping them through the devastating loss of their daughter Manuela in 1991 and her husband in 2010.

But her grandchildren Fabio, Claudia, Genevieve, Julian, Mikaela and Luca – whom she loved unconditionally – were her greatest joy, and ensured she remained filled with purpose.

Renowned for her Italian dishes and the fact that when you said ‘Enough, thank you’ you received another spoonful of meatballs or gnocci, she recently passed her cooking crown to Michelle by publicly asking ‘Can I have some more lasagna, please?’ – to the delight of her family.

Nonna loved to travel and enjoyed amusing her fellow travellers with her quick humor.

She penned a short book about her life and the manuscript was published in Florence, where she visited and old school friend up until two years ago.

After a short and graceful fight with the illness that took her life, a final knot was tied, and her tapestry was completed while she was surrounded by her beloved sons.

‘Riposa tranquilla, Nonna…’