Good memories

Christina Carnevale marks her 105th birthday on Wednesday

By: Courtney Gross
   During the Great Depression — a decade when many were lucky to put food on their own kitchen tables — Christina Carnevale made sure Princeton residents were never without.
   Day after day, just outside the wooden gate surrounding her home on The Great Road, Mrs. Carnevale would set a small table for two. On it, her son Nick Carnevale recalled, she would place a full meal with tablecloth and all the trimmings for any needy person who might pass by in need of a meal.
   "Her house was always open to people who were in need," Mr. Carnevale said.
   Described as loving and generous by her family, Mrs. Carnevale will celebrate her 105th birthday Wednesday.
   Mr. Carnevale said his mother very well could be the oldest living resident of Princeton and the oldest living descendant of Pettoranello — the village in Italy she left to come to the United States nearly 80 years ago.
   The Carnevales — whose roots date back to the 1880s in Princeton — originally came to the area as part of the Italian mass migration, Mr. Carnevale said.
   Italians looking for work, he recalled, heeded the promises of golden opportunities in the United States and Princeton University was undertaking the construction of its collegiate gothic buildings that resembled the familiar European architecture many had helped build for years.
   This opportunity brought the Carnevales here, Mr. Carnevale said, and some of the family still resides in the Princeton area today.
   Mrs. Carnevale, who came to Princeton during the 1920s, has embraced the community wholeheartedly, her son said. Caring for her four children — Nick, Evelina, the late Alfonso A., and Angelo S. Jr. — she was always most proud of their education, Mr. Carnevale said.
   An adventurous and mischievous child grew into a dedicated and caring mother and wife, her son said. Mrs. Carnevale brought her nurturing and maternal instinct to most activities. Whether taking in needy guests or constructing a winter home for birds beneath pine trees, she was constantly keeping others in mind, relatives said.
   Her daughter-in-law, Elisabeth Carnevale, said this caring nature never seemed to flag.
   "I have nothing but good memories," she said. "It’s always an open house, an open hand, an open mind."
   When the two first met over five decades ago, the daughter-in-law said, Mrs. Carnevale heard she was suffering from tonsillitis and immediately churned up a batch of chicken noodle soup — an introduction she couldn’t forget.
   It was always the little things she did for everyone, the daughter-in-law said, that meant so much, but might go unnoticed by others.
   Mr. Carnevale remembered the smell of boiled vegetables that often wafted out the kitchen door, a sure sign his mother was performing one her pastimes: food preservation. One year, family members recalled, Mrs. Carnevale canned over 500 jars of food.
   Much of the fruits and vegetables were rooted within Mrs. Carnevale’s own backyard, where she and her husband Angelo, tended, several acres, including numerous fruit trees, her son said.
   Continuing a dedication to the environment and plant life, Mrs. Carnevale also assisted her husband in his work mutating flower strains and creating new varieties. Although she helped her husband change the course of nature, her favorite flower, her son said, was always a carnation.
   A grandmother of six and great-grandmother of seven, the current Dorann Avenue resident is a devoutly religious person, her son said. She can still recite homilies — lessons of love, life and morality.
   Mrs. Carnevale’s love of classical music has not been silenced, he added, and her gratitude for Princeton is perpetual.