Pat & Connie

On June 9, 1944, Page 6 of the Long Island City Star-Journal carried the following item on Page 6, its Society page:http://fultonhistory.com/Newspaper%2014/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal%201944/Long%20Island%20City%20NY%20Star%20Journal%201944%20-%202151.pdf

Mrs. Katherine Kessler of 52-01 46th street, Laurel Hill, announces the engagement of her daughter,

Constance, to Staff Sergeant  Patrick  Resti,  grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Vito Longohardo of 55-02 48th street, Laurel Hill. Miss Kessler is a graduate of Newtown High School. Staff Sergeant. Resti has been in the Army for three years and has seen service in the Hawaiian Islands. He is now stationed at Fort Bragg, N. C.

The wedding took place on November 25, 1945 at St. Theresa's Church in Maspeth, Queens.  The invitation read:  "Mrs. Katherine Kessler and Mrs. C. Longobardo request your presence at the marriage of their children, Patrick and Constance on November 25, 1945, at 5:00 PM at St. Theresa's Church, Maspeth, New York.  reception will follow at 52-01 46th Street, Laurel Hill, NY."
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After the reception at the Bride's home in Laurel Hill, the couple spent their wedding night at the Commodore Hotel on 42nd Street in Manhattan, just east of Grand Central Station. They stayed one night at a cost of $6.05.

The Commodore was built in 1919 and named after Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, whose statue adorns the driveway next to the hotel to this day.  When it opened in 1919, it was deemed to have "the most beautiful lobby in the World" and remained open until 1977 when it was purchased by the Trump Group.  The hotel was completely rebuilt and re-opened in 1980 as the Grand Hyatt New York.

As always with Resti family research, several new mysteries are raised.  My mother was born on September 13, 1920 in New York and was named Costanza Delia Ferrone, after her paternal grandmother, Costanza Celestino Ferrone, and her maternal grandmother, Delia Cashin.  She had, at the time of her marriage, four siblings: Catherine Mary, Edward, Lawrence and John.  Her father was Michele Ferrone, who was married to Catherine Munsey, my grandmother, on June 20, 1920..  In the 1925 New York Census, Michael, Catherine, Constance and Katherine Ferrone are living at 618 Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. Michael Ferrone's occupation is listed as a Chauffeur. Five years later they were living in Queens with Edward Kessler, who, curiously, was also listed as a chauffeur, and all had changed their name from Ferrone to Kessler.  In the 1940 census, the family had again moved, this time to Borden Avenue in Queens, and  Edward Kessler is not listed with the family.  Who was Edward Kessler?

In any event, the marriage of my parents fulfilled what was probably my father's most fervent wish:  to have and become part of a family.  He was totally devoted to my mother and embraced her family as if they were his own.  He spent the rest of his life caring for and supporting his family-we were the total focus of his life.