Jacqueline Torri

Jacqueline Torri nee O’Connor was born in Chicago in the midst of the Great Depression. She could point to half a dozen of the remaining old apartment buildings in Lincoln Park and tell you the month or year she had lived there, joking that they only moved when the rent was due. If you asked her later in life why she had had so many children, she would tell you about how lonely she had been as a child. Her mother left when she was young, and her father would spend days out on Lake Michigan working on tugboats. But even though lonely at home, she made devoted friends even as early as five, friends who were just as present over 80 years later. And in a reversal of most acts of youthful rebellion, she begged her father to be transferred to Catholic school and for the rest of her life church provided her with a sense of belonging. As a teenager, she befriended her Italian immigrant neighbor who become her first real mother figure, teaching her to cook and sew and providing her with unconditional love. It wasn’t surprising then that she married her neighbor’s son and solidified that family connection. She became a mother at 21 and went on to have 5 children total. It wasn’t always easy. They didn’t have much more than she had had as a child, but there was always love. And when her husband’s declining health unfortunately made her a single mother, she persevered with the help of her friends, her church, and the family she had created. Thankfully with time, many of the problems of her childhood and early adulthood were no more. At the age of 58, she had beat out the other ladies at church for the most eligible bachelor, Eddie, then 16 years her senior at 74. She referred to him as the true love of her life, a fact that was clear to anyone who saw them together. They spoiled their 18 grandchildren with a childhood that was far different from her own and even that of her own children’s. They were at every tournament, school play, recital, and graduation from kindergarten to college. Family was absolutely everything to her, and we know she felt incredibly blessed to be able to spend her later years showering her children: James (Robin) Nuccio, William (Linda) Nuccio, Michael (Sandy) Nuccio, Mary (Carmine) Petrassi and AnneMarie Nuccio, eighteen grandchildren, and seven great-grandchildren with love and quality time. There are a lot of lessons to be learned from her life, and we are immensely grateful that she shared so many stories with us as we are also grateful to have known her and witnessed her faith, perseverance, and love. Services Private. Interment All Saints Cemetery. In lieu of flowers please make donations to your favorite charity.