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A deep-rooted love
Trees symbolize love of mill and each other
By Lissa Bell
YOUNGSTOWN
Visitors to Lanterman’s Mill in Mill Creek Park are greeted by a grouping to the right of the entrance that consists of three millstones flanked by a redbud tree on each side. Planted in memory of Frank and Gertrude DePizzo, the trees symbolize the couple’s love of the mill and each other.
The tree to the left bears a plaque that reads, “Integrity, love and giving forever grows — Frank P. DePizzo.” The plaque on the tree to the right of the millstones reads, “A touch of heaven, an inspiration of God — Gertrude Moretti DePizzo.”
Both were placed there by the DePizzo children in memory of their loving parents, according to their daughter, Patti Marsico.
Marsico and her brothers find it ironic that there are three millstones where they planted the trees because there are three children.
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Gertrude was born to Domenic and Inez Moretti, who came from Italy and raised their five children on the East Side of Youngstown.
They stressed the importance of education, responsibility, high values, morals and manners. Respect was a given. Gertrude graduated from Scienceville High School in 1940.
Frank DePizzo also grew up in a family in which both parents came from Italy. He was one of eight children who were also raised with strong ethics and values. His parents taught their children how to enjoy life and to be responsible in their own lives.
After graduation, Gertrude worked at McKelvey’s in downtown Youngstown. Frank’s mother would go into the store often. She began asking Gertrude to write to her son while he was serving in the military. Gertrude admitted to her children that she was hesitant at first.
But Congetta DePizzo was persistent.
Eventually, Gertrude gave in and began writing to him. They corresponded many times and finally met when he came home on leave.
They married Sept. 20, 1944.
DePizzo opened the Out R Way Market on Southern Boulevard and Indianola Road. He also opened several pizza shops and purchased a four-plex on the North Side.
Many years after DePizzo had passed away, Gertrude was quoted as saying, “He had a mind full of ideas. He was always thinking.”
DePizzo had come up with the idea of marketing spaghetti sauce. “Not a new idea today,” said Marsico. “But we’re going back to the 1950s era.”
Jim DePizzo was the couple’s first child, followed by Patti and Frank Jr. The DePizzo children remember driving through the park in the family car.
According to a framed tribute written by the DePizzo children in memory of their parents and hanging inside the mill, “They would roll down the windows, no matter the weather, as they passed by Lanterman’s Mill for she said she so loved hearing the water falls and he, well, he was with his ‘baby doll.’”
“And all must know,“ the children wrote, “when the blooms fade on a redbud tree, leaves form in the shape of hearts. With our love & memories, the children, Jim, Patti & Frank.”
Marsico said that, as parents, they shared their love with their families and their children, instilling strong morals, virtues and faith. And this is why their love will endure forever.
With four grandchildren and five great-grand- children, the DePizzo family continues to grow.
Marsico’s children, Michelle and Bryan, were 12 and 8 when her mother came to live with them. “We became a new family of mixed generations,” said Marsico. “The older and the wiser teaching the younger.”
She continued, “Bryan summed up our feelings on Lanterman’s Mill when he wrote, ‘I’m so grateful every time I go and visit their trees at Lanterman’s Mill because the warm feeling I get when admiring their beauty reminds me of Grandpa’s giving spirit, and the fact that I can go there any time and stay as long as I want without feeling rushed reminds me of Grandma.’”
Every year since the dedication of the trees, Marsico’s husband, Richard, returns to Lanterman’s Mill to photograph the trees as they, too, continue to grow.