warm as toast

leona colla
august 18, 1917-december 18, 2010

my nonna passed away on saturday. i've been trying to come up with a proper post, but i'm having a hard time putting something cohesive together. so instead, i've put together some pictures and a few words.




my nonna's parents came to san francisco from italy. i'm unsure of the year.

they lived in potrero hill, san francisco.



until kindergarten, my nonna only spoke italian.




when she went to register for kindergarten, her mother didn't speak english. leona was not her real name, but it's what the school heard and put down as her first name. she went by leona her entire life.


my nonna would wear long dresses to school and tell people that they had barrels and barrels of money in their basement. really they had barrels of her papa's wine.




when i was born nonno and nonna were in reno. she was gambling. she asked if they could leave the next day, but nonno said, no.

she always told me she never forget the year i was born because it was the bicentennial.





nonna worked at see's candy when she was dating my nonno. she loved to tell the story about how for her birthday or christmas he handed her a box of see's candy. she wanted to throw it at him. she opened it and inside was a watch.





she was a mother of four and a grandmother to eight.

nonna had been on hospice for a long time. she hadn't said a word in over two years.

my nonna's folks raised her orphaned cousin, jenny, who was the same age as nonna. jenny died last week. when my dad's older sister kathy went to visit her before she died, kathy said to jenny, "jen, reach your hand out to leona, would you?"

rest in peace, nonna.