Mary was born in Manhattan in 1908.

Her parents were recent arrivals to the United States, having made the journey from the Palermo area in Sicily sometime before Mary’s birth.

The purple stars on the map below show areas in Sicily that members of the family were known to have lived in.

Mary was a creative spirit who seemed to have “it” – a sense of style and vogue. Her older sister Katie taught her how to operate a sewing machine, and she made magic with it. At some point in her early adult life she became a machine operator, or seamstress, in New York’s garment district, where she met a handsome young Sicilian who winked at her whenever he passed her machine. His name was Liborio, known to his family and friends as “Sal”, and they were married in Brooklyn on July 14, 1935.