Monday, June 24, 2024
My first and foremost cousin, Josephine Anita Caruso, was like a big sister to me. I was honored to have been named after her.
To say that I loved Jo is an understatement. We shared a bedroom and vacations until I was 7 years old and could be returned to my parents.
Jo was my first piano teacher. I used to sit under her Steinway so that I could feel the vibrations as well as hear the music. She was my mentor and my role-model.
Recitals with printed programs for all her students, listing what each one would play, were always very professional. And the punch-and-cookies receptions that followed were lovely rewards for the students, and congenial get-togethers for the parents.
As an adult, when I had graduated to studying with her teachers in NYC, I used to call Jo once every week to "keep up" and to ask questions/advice about the music I was playing.
Jo was always there for me. Her smile, her sparkling eyes, her laugh, her love, will remain emblazoned in my memory, until that time when we can be together again.
I miss my "big sister" every day....
Anita LaFiandra MacDonald
