Viola Marie (Pavone) Rizzo

Viola M. Rizzo (Pavone), 91, passed away Saturday, April 4, 2020.

Viola was born January 21, 1929 to James and Elizabeth (Pozzi) Pavone in Akron. She was raised in Firestone Park, graduated from Garfield High School. She married the love of her life, Dominic, on November 8, 1947 and began a family. She was employed by Barberton Citizen's Hospital in Human Resources for over 20 years, retiring in 1989.

Viola's faith and her family were most important to her. There are many great family moments including their 60th wedding anniversary in Italy, where they visited her family hometown of Pescara. Sunday meals as a family were very important, as Mom loved cooking and baking especially her famous birthday cakes. She enjoyed family vacations at especially those at Ogelbay Park. She was very active in a "Mission Circle Club" benefiting local charities. She was a faithful and longtime member of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church and truly enjoyed her time cooking for the priests at St. Frances de Sales rectory. She loved serving spaghetti at Ristorante Abruzzo on Thursday nights and served in a variety of officer roles within the Unione Abruzzese Society (the Italian Center). She was awarded the Council of Italian American Society Merit Award in 1999.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, Dominic on March 20 of this year and her brother Joseph Pavone. She is survived by her sons Frank (Mary Lynne) Rizzo of Stow, Vincent (Marie) Rizzo of Akron, Dominic Jr. (Pattie) Rizzo of Green and Anthony (Jeff) Rizzo of Lakewood; 16 grandchildren; 29 great grandchildren; and several nieces, nephews and friends.

We are grateful for the around the clock loving care given to both our parents by the Senior Helpers.

A PRIVATE Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Tuesday, April 7, 2020 at 1:00 pm at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church. Due to the Covid 19 restrictions Mass attendance is prohibited. To accommodate the restrictions, Mass will be available for live-streaming on Facebook at facebook.com/AnthonyFuneralHomes/live/ beginning 12:55 pm on Tuesday. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to St. Francis de Sales Church, (Memorare Center), 4019 Manchester Road, Akron, OH 44319.