Anna N. Pittella , MD., age 95 of Middletown, New Jersey formerly a longtime resident of Hudson and Ocean County died of natural causes on July 4th 2015, in Brighton Gardens, Middletown, New Jersey. She moved to Brighton Gardens in February 2011 where he enjoyed the company of the other residents, the care and activities in which she participated and frequent visits with her daughters. She particularly enjoyed the daily rosary, exercise program and painting.
She was born on November 8, 1919, in New York City, the daughter of Giuseppe Napolitano and Leonina Elvira Palmieri who emigrated from Italy. She was the oldest of four daughters followed by Cettina of Naples, Italy, Olga (deceased) and Wanda of Austin, Texas. At the age of seven she attended a convent boarding school near Naples with her younger sister Cettina and remained in Italy until her late 20's. During World War II, she displayed her great courage by hiding soldiers in their home. She expressed the desire to become a doctor and her father, very uncharacteristic for the time, encouraged and supported her until she graduated from the University of Naples Medical School. Her life in Italy was underscored by her devotion to her church, her intense desire to become a doctor and her loyalty to family.
She met her late husband, Romulo G. Pittella, also a student, while attending medical school after a chance encounter when she mistook him for a professor. They married in Pompeii, honeymooned in Capri before immigrating to Brazil, her husband's birth place. Her devotion to her husband and the life they built together spanned over 50 years. She and her husband left Brazil in 1949 and returned to her birthplace in the Bronx to start their life in the United States with her parents and sisters. They completed their internship and residency while in the Bronx and then moved to Jersey City in 1955 after the birth of their second daughter, Lauria Anna. She opened an office in her home for her pediatrics practice adding two more daughters, Suzanne and Rosanna, before moving to Toms River, New Jersey in 1969 where she again opened an office to treat her favorite people, children. She loved her life in both Toms River where she enjoyed gardening and swimming in her pool and Lavallette (where the family owned a beach house for decades) where she was able to walk the boardwalk daily. She always welcomed relatives, friends, and her children's friends with wonderful Italian meals. She continued to treat children for over 50 years before retiring and moving to Middletown in 2001. She was commended for her fifty years of service by the NJ Medical Society and received the Gaeta Award for Women's History Month in Ocean County. She was a founder and served as President of the Italian American Cultural Society of Ocean County to honor and support Italian heritage. She encouraged her daughters to be independent and motivated them to achieve. She loved her faith, her family and her work and skillfully and successfully "juggled" the demands they created long before the articles that are so commonly written today.
Dr. Anna Pittella is survived by her daughters: Anna Maria Pittella, wife of Gary Carpenter, Lauria Anna Blanco, wife of Joseph Blanco, Suzanne Pittella Touch, wife of Ralph Touch, and Rosanna Pittella; her grandchildren: Alyssa, Christina, Julia, Nicole, Annalisa, Nicholas, Laurianna, Jessica, Amanda, and Richelle; her step-grandchildren: Adam, Allyson, and Suzanne; and her great-grandchildren: Lilly Anna and Ava.
There will be a memorial mass held on the Saturday July 18, 2015, at St. James Church, 94 Broad St. Red Bank. In lieu of flowers a memorial fund has been created at the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital at http://fundraising.stjude.org/goto/anpittellamd or by mail to 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis Tn. 38105