Obituary of Bella Vuolo

Bella "Bernice" (nee Epstein)Vuolo Our dear, beloved Yiddishe Momme died on June 29, 2016 at the age of 79. To call her a Yiddishe Momme is no nostalgic rhetorical flourish but quite literal, since her first language—on the streets and stoops of Paterson, New Jersey in the 1930s—was indeed Yiddish. She grew up knowing that noodles were lokshen, that kvetching was cathartic, and that the most potent penicillin was homemade chicken soup with lots of turnips and parsnips. Bella was fond of saying of her own mother that if she had a dime she would give away a nickel. Well Bella gave away the whole dime, each and every day, to her family and her friends and to the many people who popped in and out of her life and were astonished by her kindness. She is survived by her doting daughter Ellen and her loving sons, Michael and Matthew. Her three grandchildren, Valentina, Lilliana, and Xander, will miss her to the moon and back.