June Marilyn DiGiacomo (né DiCesare) passed away peacefully at her home in Pembroke, New York on October 14, 2021, at the age of 92. She was born on March 10, 1929, to the late Marion Allers, a concert pianist, and Pierino DiCesare, designer of a revolutionary type of airplane propeller.
June was also predeceased by her husband Carmen Salvatore DiGiacomo, son Thomas Joseph DiGiacomo, and sisters Jean Travis, Gloria Cannon, and Marion Zendano. She is survived by her daughter Diane Marie Denton-DiGiacomo and beloved cats Blake, Dante, Oscar, Yoshi, and Kenji.
June was born and spent much of her childhood in Oak Park, Illinois, amongst the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright and the family of the writer Ernest Hemmingway. She never met the legendary author but crossed paths with his mother while babysitting his nephew “little Ernie”, his sister Sunny’s son.
June was a talented artist whose spontaneous, impressionistic style captured landscapes, animals, and flowers to add beauty and brightness to this world. She loved to listen to music and to sing, also to read, especially poetry, copying out favorite lines into notebooks and on to whatever scraps of paper were at hand. She was an irresistible spoken storyteller, entertaining many with fascinating reflections on he past.
June worked for years at the Buffalo Courier Express, until she retired and, with her husband, moved from Tonawanda, a suburb of Buffalo, NY, to the Town of Pembroke in the 1980s to fulfil their dream of living in the country. Suddenly widowed a few years later, she became an active member of the community, including joining the local Methodist church and serving as an election inspector well into her 80s. She always kept abreast of current affairs and cared deeply for the well-being of her fellow humans, the natural environment, and animals. She was wonderful with children, helping them to learn, conquer their weaknesses and discover their strengths through their budding interests and talents.
Those who knew her at any point, will remember June’s “Mona Lisa smile”, sparkling hazel-blue eyes, and infectious engagement in a life to be celebrated rather than grieved over.
There will be a private burial of her ashes at Indian Falls Cemetery in the Town of Pembroke.
In lieu of flowers, her daughter requests that donations be made to one or the other or both of the following animal rescue organizations:
Second Chance Networking Shelter: www.secondchanceshelteringnetwork.com Click on “Donate” in the upper right-hand corner. On second payment screen, please click “Write a note” to indicate that your donation is in memory of June M. DiGiacomo.
Wyoming County SPCA: www.wyomingcountyspca.org Click “Donate”. Click on “Memorial Donation”. Click on “Memorial”, “In Loving Memory” to June M. DiGiacomo, “Human”. Please fill in “Send notification of donation to” with bardess@earthlink.net.
Expressions of sympathy may be shared with the family at: www.mcandrewfuneralhomes.net.
ARRANGEMENTS WERE ENTRUSTED TO THE J. LEONARD McANDREW FUNERAL HOME, LLC, 2 BOGUE AVE., BATAVIA, NY 14020. RONALD KONIECZNY II, DIRECTOR.
To Mom, with love from your daughter:
The secrets of your heart
are stacked against the wall,
canvases for your art
of hiding what you missed.
No mistaking your style,
a freedom out of hand
that kept you all the while
believing as you wished.
A world that long was yours
before it was revealed— imagination soars
with courage its master.
Flowers filling a place left bereft
of your own, a portrait in a vase found
by me, your daughter.
Landscapes take you afar,
cats and soup bring you home to
settle for who you are:
the author of this poem. ~ DM Denton
