Olivia Ann D'Alessio

We are so sorry for your loss. We pray that you can find comfort in sharing all your memories of Ann with each other and in knowing how much she loved all of you.
Sheryl and Dan Mayhue

Heartfelt. Condolences to the Family, Friends, Neighbors, and a socialist to Oliva A. D'Alessio . Will defiantly miss seeing you at The Point Polling place on elections days.    Rests in Heavenly Peace.  God's wonderful servant.      Will see you in Heaven.       Council Women        Rhett 

I will always remember Ann with a smile on her face and warm hug every time I saw her. She made amazing banana bread and beautiful crafts but most of all I enjoyed getting time just to sit and chat with her. She will be truly missed. Hold her memories close to your heart. Thinking of you all and sending our condolences. Love The Rispolis ❤️

Ann always greeted us with the biggest and best hugs. She was a kind woman that always cared about others well being. Every year our Christmas tree is decorated with the beautiful hand painted ornaments that she made us years ago. Sending love and prayers for peace during this difficult time.

What a kind and gracious person. Olivia Ann always had a warm smile on her face and a ready laugh, but you got the feeling that all was well whenever she was around. She also appreciated and noticed those all-important small details in life - but was fully capable of taking care of the big details too. All will miss you Ann, and never forget your presence as friend, wife, mom, grandmom and so much more. Thinking of you, and God Bless.    From Tom and Jennifer.

Ann,

John 14:2
" My Father's house has many rooms; if we're not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?"
I am sure Joe is smiling knowing you are in one of those rooms waiting for him with open arms!!
Joe and I met through drum corps, the Sunrisers. He was an example to all of us and a terrific friend. Kind, hard workinig and also a lot of fun. In all a wonderful man.
May God Bless!!

We cannot put into words how grateful we were to be your neighbors when we moved into parkesburg back in 2016. We gained more than neighbors that July. I was just telling a friend the other day about the time FedEx hit your brand new truck and I chased him down. We are very saddened by the sudden loss of Olivia and will forever keep her in our thoughts and prayers. 

I am shocked! I didn't understand at first but now I do. WOW! I can't believe that you are gone! Long ago we did lots of Mary Kay events together. You were the sweetest person. God Bless you Joe and family I am so sorry for your loss. Olivia, May you be flying with the angels my dear "MK sister".

I am still in shock. Cannot believe that Olivia is gone.  She was too young.  I am so sorry Kim, Karin. My deepest condolences to her husband and her children, siblings and family. 

So very sorry to hear of Olivia’s passing.  She went to East Orange Catholic HS for a short time and she was always such a sweet and caring soul   My heartfelt sympathy and condolences to her family during this difficult time.  Prayers ❤️❤️❤️❤️

i also deeply saddened by her loss. My fond memories of Olivia are many, many years ago. We became fast friends when she came to East Orange Catholic. She needed assistance with her books, and getting familiar with the school. Since was on crutches I just volunteered. From that moment we became best friends. Many experiences, many memories. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to reconnect with her. She was a beautiful person, and will be deeply missed❤️

Joe and family, we are so heartbroken for the loss of your sweet Olivia… she was one of the sweetest, most sincere, loving people we’ve known. We met her several years ago when she first started coming to our workshops when we were over at Pheasant Run, she was such a regular, loving the classes, she quickly became a good friend. Over the years we always enjoyed her visits, she supported our business all thru the changes and ups and downs. Our first year in town we needed holiday help and she was so excited to come work with us, she was part of the Homestead family! She never missed an event or chance to stop in and visit. We always chatted about the grandbabies, craft projects, her exciting new adventures in the camper and got lots of hugs in. Please know she was loved here and will be dearly missed. Please keep in touch, you are in our thoughts and prayers. All our love, Tracy & Tag and the Homestead family.

Olivia Ann D’Alessio

She was born in March of 1956 to Irene and Josef Fettweiss, one year and one day after they were married. She was their first and they named her Olivia Ann after the movie actress Olivia de Havilland (my father’s choosing). She had many nicknames, among them “Aimee” which was dubbed by our youngest sibling, Kimmy. We chose the spelling because in French it means ‘beloved’. We are a very close family and we always said how lucky we were because we knew how much we meant to each other and the miles could never keep us apart. We spoke almost daily, and Olivia made the trip to NJ as often as she could, an almost 3 hour drive each way.

She had tremendous courage, having beaten cancer twice in her lifetime, overcoming many illnesses, surgeries, injuries and chronic pain. But, she had an indelible spirit and often joked about her replacement parts and becoming the ‘bionic woman’.

She was brave. I remember one visit when she came to my home in Denville and I was startled at a stray dog on my porch; I shooed it away, and Olivia said “that dog has a collar”. She quickly took my dog outside on a leash and I followed but I was scared of what might happen; soon enough the stray came back but he was friendly and came right up to my dog; Olivia reached out, petted the dog and grabbed the stray by the collar, and then we saw a man walking up the street with a toddler on his shoulders. He said “thank you, I have been trying to catch that dog for hours”. The toddler was so happy. Olivia just smiled and said ‘you’re welcome’.  She was my hero.

We loved our annual beach vacations and continued that tradition for some 20 years, taking a week down the Jersey shore or North Carolina. Olivia loved the sun, the water, her toes in the sand, and spending the week together with her sisters and our collective children ‘the cousins’. We would start our day talking in pajamas over two pots of coffee at the kitchen table. We’d pack lunches and head to the beach, schlepping the cooler, beach chairs, sand toys, games, and umbrellas (Joe had helped her pack the truck with everything but the kitchen sink). She and I would take our walk together along the water’s edge, 15 minutes in one direction, and 15 minutes back. I switched sides so that she could hear me with her good ear and we talked the whole time and smiled at the beautiful families we passed along the way. She and I were leaving the beach together this one time, walking back up by the dunes when she saw an elderly couple sitting in a gazebo; the man with scrambled eggs on his hat, clearly a veteran; she told me ‘hold on a minute’ and she made a detour to go talk to them. She walked up to the complete strangers and said ‘Hi, I just want to shake your hand, is that okay? I want to thank you for your service.’ The couple smiled and happily engaged with her in conversation for several minutes. I stood back in awe and admiration of her kind gesture. I was so proud to call her my sister. In the afternoons we would head back to our condo, swim at the pool with the kids, drink margaritas and toast ‘Ya-Ya’ to honor our sisterhood. In the evenings we would go shopping downtown or relax and have movie night with kids (and wine and popcorn). We rented bikes to ride on the boardwalk and this one afternoon, right at 12 noon, the loud speakers came on and played the national anthem. We stopped our bikes, found the nearest flag to salute, we were full of pride to be living in this great Country. She had tears streaming down her face and she thanked us for sharing that moment with her; she was sentimental. She was a true patriot. She was a member of the Rolling Thunder club supporting the POW/MIA mission, volunteered to talk to veterans, laid wreaths at the Cemetery for wreaths across America. She volunteered at the local voting Polls for years, later becoming the President of Elections for her district.

She loved to hunt and fish with Joe, and loved camping. Joe named their camper ‘Someday’ because he said he was tired of planning and waiting for someday to come, and he said Someday is now. Thank you for making that happen for her.

In 2020, the sisters were supposed to go to Nashville to celebrate Olivia’s 64th birthday, my 60th and Kimmy’s 50th. Olivia was really looking forward to that trip, as were we all, but Covid caused us to cancel the plan. Instead, the Sister’s got together several months later in my town with our daughters and we got tattoos. We chose the simple letters Ya-Ya to symbolize our sisterhood, our bond. Olivia added three small hearts under the words.

She was an artist, a painter, and she crafted these Christmas ornaments that I have had for years and will pass on to my children. There is one in particular, a little snowman, with the happiest face; I marvel at how small and intricate the brush strokes were to create such an endearing face, the twinkling eyes and warm smile of that little snowman always makes me happy to look at it.

She was girly and loved her bling, the rings on almost all of her fingers, her earrings, her perfectly painted manicure and pedicure. She loved the color purple, her cowboy boots, her flip flops. Joe made her a necklace of these tiny stainless steel flip flops hanging from a silver chain; he reveled in whatever made her happy. And they were happy together, she was his everything, and he was hers.

She loved country music especially Garth Brooks and Alan Jackson, disco music especially Kool and the Gang’s Celebration and Sister Sledge’s We are Family. There were many others that I don’t know and to this day I don’t recall the name of the song, but at Tommy & Sarah’s wedding in Georgia, I was watching the guests on the dance floor; Olivia was standing on the side talking to someone, when this one song came on and I saw Joe from across the dance floor come hurrying (and he doesn’t really hurry) calling her name; she didn’t hear him but I think she felt him coming and she turned with a big smile and they met and began dancing. He held her, hugging her, as they danced to this, his favorite song, their favorite song. It was clear they were meant for each other, they had an ever-lasting love.

To know her was to love her. I called her Sara Lee, because nobody doesn’t like Sara Lee. I talked to her almost every day. She was always there for me. She saw me through some of the darkest days of my life. She was kind and giving. She was loving. She hugged you like she meant it. She was expressive in her gestures and talked with her hands. She loved to dance. She loved animals. She loved her children, her son Tommy (Buddy) and her daughter Melissa (Peanut) and her grandchildren. She was spiritual and had read the bible many times over. She had great faith. My 5 year old grandson, RJ, came to me the other day, put his little hand on my shoulder and told me that Jesus took her by the hand. I will try to take comfort in that.

I just heard about Olivia's passing today. I was truly saddened to hear this news. I only got to know Olivia for a few years from work, but she made a lasting impression on me. She was kind hearted and funny, really made the day go fast when I got to work with her. I enjoyed reading about the other things she was involved with. That was the kind of person she was, never bragged about the kind things that she did in life. What I do know is she loved her family very much. Talked about them all the time. Rest in eternal peace Olivia, and thank you for allowing me to get to know you.

John L