Flushing's Lucy Danzi, 105, dies after a fall

Lucy Danzi, a 105-year-old Flushing woman who dedicated her life to helping others, passed away September 14, three weeks after injuring three ribs and her lungs in a violent fall.
Remembered for her warmth - and spectacular cooking - Danzi leaves behind a daughter Mary, grandchildren John, Lisa, and Lucia, and great-grandchildren Ananda, Nicoletta, Candida, Ludovica, Michelle, and Marilyn.
Born in the Italian town of Cerignola (Foggia), Danzi moved to the United States in 1916, growing up on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. She helped support her six younger sisters, working in a garment factory.
She married Dominic Danzi at the age of 16, and had two children, Michael - who earned a Bronze Medal in World War II but passed on at the age of 44 - and Mary, and adopted another, a nephew named Teddy, who had cerebral palsy.
Yet she treated him like her own, taking him to the Cerebral Palsy Center on 23rd Street in Manhattan. Even after Teddy passed, she continued to give her free time to United Cerebral Palsy, working diligently at Christmas parties and telethons.
Danzi, a faithful member of the Mary Help of Christian's Church on the Lower East Side, maintained her connection with her native country by hosting Bologna University exchange students, helping the Italian Welfare League, the Orphans of Italy, and working with The Children of Messia.
&#8220She gave her life to Cerebral Palsy,” Mary said. &#8220She would cook for them, she would go to telethons. She was exceptional. Not because she was my mother, but everybody loved her.”
She spent her later years in Flushing with her daughter Mary, taking care of her grandchildren and inspiring those around her. &#8220I have a house full of people,” Mary said, &#8220and they are all crying. She was a very, very humble person. … She was very loving to her children and the kind of mother that never interfered. She was happy if you were happy.”