Lydia Rosaria Riedener
(Post No. 11) Lydia is the mother of Susie, Lindy, and Nancy. Lydia was known by all her family and countless friends as uncommonly generous, loving, nurturing, loyal, friendly to all, and smart as a whip. Lydia was known as "Mommy" to her three daughters and "Mamam" to her seven grandchildren. The second of four children, Lydia was born in Palermo, Sicily, in 1922 to Paul Riedener and Rosaria Sacchiero Riedener. Lydia's siblings were sisters Amy and Teresa, and brother Sil.
The family immigrated to America in 1928 when Lydia was 6 years old. They traveled by ship, which took some weeks to arrive at Ellis Island in New York. From there, they took a train to California where their father had a job waiting for him in the fruit packing industry.
Only their father spoke some English when they arrived. Lydia and Amy were old enough to attend school in San Francisco where they had to learn their new language by total immersion. After graduating from Balboa High School in 1940, Lydia attended City College of San Francisco. Her goal was to be a nurse someday but her father would not allow it. In fact, he took her out of school to help with the business he was building, a fruit processing company in Oakland. Lydia learned bookkeeping and was the office manager of Treasure Island Food Products for several years until she married John Gorman in 1944.
Three daughters came along between 1945 and 1950. Just a few years later, Lydia was working again, this time for herself and John, at Lydia's Portrait Studio on Noriega Street in San Francisco. She specialized in taking beautiful portraits of children, and brought home the negatives where John would develop and print the pictures. After a few years, they folded the business and Lydia worked for an insurance company for several years. After that, her final employment was in a doctor's private practice as a medical assistant and office manager — a career she enjoyed for 25 years.
Through it all, Lydia always kept a perfectly clean and well-appointed home for her lively family, with masterful dinners cooked from scratch to perfection every night. She also grew roses in her backyard garden that she designed and created herself. She was always busy, never, ever sat around doing nothing, and thought only of others.
Lydia loved her husband, daughters, sons-in-law, and grandchildren, all animals (especially dogs), going out to lunch with her daughters or friends, cooking Italian food, and she enjoyed a good martini. She was quick to laugh, had a wonderful sense of humor, and lit up every room with her million-dollar smile. She was the ultimate devoted wife and mother.
Lydia and John were married for 60 years before John died in 2005. Lydia lived to see her 90th birthday on March 30, 2012, but Parkinsons Disease took its final toll one week later. But Lydia's kind spirit and sweet nature will live on in the hearts of all who had the good fortune to know her.
See more photos of Lydia HERE.
COMMENTS:
Dave - April 1, 2021
Lydia was a real sweetheart. She was always so welcoming and thoughtful.
You hear all these stories about bitchy mothers-in-law, but not Lydia.
She was very loving, and she taught me how to properly make and drink a Martini.
Nancy - April 1, 2021
You are so right, Dave! We were all lucky to have her in our lives.
Kendra - April 2, 2021
Mom, this website is such a treasure. I wish I had asked Mamam more about what
it was like to go to college in 1940: why nursing, what were her other interests, what
were her other obstacles? Makes me so sad that her father didn't support it more,
either. Also, I don't ever remember her talking about depression-era California,
do you? I wish I had known to ask her so much more! These little feature pieces
about our family are so precious. Thank you so much for composing and sharing
them with us! Belated birthday honors to our wonderful Mamam and love to the whole family!
Nancy - April 2, 2021
Kendra, I just uploaded the interview I did with Mamam in 1999, above. I had always
intended to do a second one, but unfortunately, didn't get to it. Thank you for your
interest in our family tree blog! And by the way, we all wish we had asked our grandparents
more questions when we could!
Susie - April 2, 2021
Absolutely loved all of that about our mother :-) Fits her to a T!
We were all so blessed to have her in our lives! x0x0x0
Nancy - April 2, 2021
I'm glad you like my post about our mother, Susie. I could have written 50 pages
about how wonderful she was!
Lindy - April 2, 2021
So wonderful you have this all written down for future generations to read.
Thanks Nancy for all your research and websites. xo Lindy
Nancy - April 2, 2021
I like doing it; thanks, Lindy! :-)
Johnny - April 2, 2021
So good Nancy . . . I still have such fond memories of her! There's only one
Mamam and I will have a martini tonight in her memory.
Nancy - April 2, 2021
Great idea, Johnny. I bet a few more of us will, too. Thanks!
Rocky - April 2, 2021
A glowing review and nicely written historical record of Mamam. Nice job mom.
Brings back memories of playing in that magical and topographically steep rose garden.
Nancy - April 2, 2021
That was a unique backyard in San Francisco! So many good memories. . .
Kerry - April 2, 2021
Wow! This is amazing! I loved the interview, I could totally hear Mamam's voice
while I was reading it. And those poor dogs she had to leave behind when she was little
and the fact that it came up some many years later — the one on the left could have
been Riley! I didn't know about Vera — that was interesting! I have so many great
memories of her! She was so much fun and had such a cute laugh — Vanilla wafers
in the cookie jar, olives, watching football cross legged, tennis, the park,
the garden and so much more! Thank you Nancy! xoxo
Nancy - April 2, 2021
Thank you for reading and commenting, Kerry. I'm glad you like it!