Rosa Maisano

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Rosa Maisano, 66, of Annadale, a loving wife, mother and grandmother, died Sunday in the Mayo Clinic Hospital, Phoenix, Ariz.

Born Rosa Rao in Palermo, Italy, she immigrated to the United States with her family when she was 15, moving to Brooklyn. She settled in Annadale in 1997.

For five years, Mrs. Maisano put her cooking skills to good use as a site manager for a culinary services company providing food to Island schools in the Archdiocese of New York, including Notre Dame Academy, Moore Catholic High School, Academy of St. Dorothy and St. Joseph Hill Academy.

She was known for going above and beyond what was expected when she visited the schools.

"When they saw her, they knew something special was coming," said her husband, Frank Maisano.

Mrs. Maisano dedicated herself to taking care of her family, and being the best homemaker she could be. Sunday Italian dinners were made complete with her homemade pasta and meatballs.

Mrs. Maisano was a parishoner of Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C. Church, Huguenot.

Along with Frank, her husband of 46 years, surviving are her sons, Frank, Michael and Christopher; her daughter, Cristina Laudicino, and eight grandchildren.

The funeral will be Saturday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a mass at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Star of the Sea Church. Entombment will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: Our Lady Star of the Sea RC Church Saturday, October 8,2011 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Thursday, October 6,2011 & Friday, October 7,2011 2-4 & 7-9 PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Star of the Sea R.C.Church