A Woman's Dying Wish To Be Buried In Her Favorite Dress Comes True

CENTER MORICHES, NY — When Carol Donadio died Wednesday after battling COVID-19, time stood still for those who loved her, including her daughter Doreen Pittelli.

Faced with the unthinkable, Pittelli, was certain of one thing: Her mother, who was 77, told her for years she wanted to be buried in a particular royal-blue dress.

There was just one problem: The dress, bought in 1985 for a wedding, but never worn — which still had its original tags — was a size 12. Pittelli's mother, who suffered a stroke five years ago and then battled COVID-19, was prescribed steroids and had been a larger size when she died. The dress no longer fit.

Wracked with grief, Pittelli turned to Rico's Clothing and Center Moriches Cleaners, both longtime mainstays on the community canvas.

"These are two family-owned businesses that made my deceased mother's wish come true," she wrote on social media.

Pittelli took the dress first to the dry cleaners, where Mackenzie, a staffer, helped her judge her mother's size, using her arms to estimate the size of her waist.

"The seamstress got the measurements from measuring me, mimicking dressing my mom," she said.

Then, she added: "Rico’s side jumped in on it and made it happen! In less than 24 hours, they created an entirely new plus-size in her dress. The dress that was her dying wish. As I could do nothing but cry over their counter, my family and I wanted them to know how much we appreciate what they did for my mom and us. Thank you all for being such an amazing part of a wonderful community!"

Speaking with Patch, Pittelli said it was difficult to put into words just how much those acts of caring meant at a time when her family's hearts are broken wide.

The dress, her mother's favorite royal blue, with the sequins she loved, hung in her closet for 37 years.

"When I was growing up, she'd tell me she wanted to be buried in that dress. She'd say, 'Doreen, remember the blue dress.'"

Although she'd had a stroke five years ago, Donadio was doing well, until COVID struck.

"We did not expect her to go," she said. "And then when it happened, all I could think about was that blue dress. I said, 'Dad, where is the blue dress?'"

Pittelli, herself in health care, was by her mother's side after the stroke for five years doing everything possible to help her — an oxygen mask instead of a nose cannula to help her breathe, physical therapy — anything, everything possible, to help her recover.

"She was doing great. Her color was there. She was getting out, spending more time with her grandkids. We would make excuses, anything to make her feel helpful, so she'd have a reason to live, to keep her going. I have five kids, and I'd tell her I was backed up on laundry, but I wasn't. We made the laundry for her," she said.

Her mother got COVID in November. "She declined after that," Pittelli said. "The battle she fought for five years after the stroke — and then for COVID to just wipe her out ..." she said, her voice breaking.

Pittelli called her mother "tough."

"She'd do anything for her kids and, especially, her five grandkids," she said.

Her mother was known for her "special occasion" rice pie. "She lived to make certain foods, sfogliatella — an Italian pastry — her peach cake. She was Italian, of course she did."

Her mother, who lived in Shirley, imbued her and her brother was a forever life lesson, Pittelli said: "Family first."

It was a caring family that lives by the same mantra — Rico's is owned by Eaderesto and his son Rico, while Center Moriches Cleaners is owned by Rico's cousin Richard Maag — that worked together to ensure Pittelli's mom was laid to rest in her special blue dress. Mackenzie, the staffer who helped, also welcomed her family with care, she said.

Pittelli knew her mother's size and width, after so many days of helping her dress, but she wasn't sure of her measurements; Mackenzie and a seamstress, with sensitivity and kindness, made it happen, and Rico's handled the actual recreation of the dress.

"I couldn't even look at the dress," Pittelli said; the grief was too real. "Mackenzie, she knew, she understood. She had tears in her eyes, she was so warm. I just looked at my husband — I honestly couldn't talk."

The royal blue frock, she said, meant everything.

"It was always this dress, all she ever wanted. At first, the funeral home suggested draping it over here. I said, 'No, COVID is not taking away my mother's last wish. No way. She had a wish — and she held on to it since 1985."

Rico's has been a part of Pittelli's life since her daughter, now 27, was 15 and they were planning her Sweet 16. Later, Pittelli, who works for the Independent Group Living Program, has brought clients to Rico's, where they are treated "with patience, understanding, and compassion," she said.

"The way they work with them, it's unbelievable what they do for the souls that live in the community they're from."

When she knew that the dress had been altered, and that it was ready for her mother's wake Wednesday, Pittelli felt some measure of peace.

"I was actually able to exhale deeply," she said. "That was one of the things that I was really stressed about. 'How am I going to dress my mother? How am I going to find the color, the style, for her, in her size?' This was a dress from 1985, with that style of appliques. But they did this in less than 24 hours," she said. "I think they probably worked past their time to leave."

Her mother, too, was a hard worker, toiling tirelessly to support Pittelli and her brother Thomas until she met their stepfather Joseph, who became the world to their family.

Her mother worked at Sears, in merchandising, and it was at Sears that she found the blue dress.

"It hung in her closet for 37 years. And Rico's and Center Moriches Cleaners made her dying wish come true."

Rico Eaderesto told Patch that his entire staff was heartbroken for Pittelli.

"It was a sad situation. We were so happy we could help. We try to help everyone we can and do our best to be part of the community. We don't do it to be acknowledged — we just want to be good people and do our part to help where we can."

Maag, Eaderesto's cousin and owner of Center Moriches Cleaners, said he was made aware of the story by Rico.

"I'm not surprised that my family and my staff reached out and did the right thing," he said.

Rico's is celebrating its 70th anniversary and Center Moriches Cleaners, which began as his father's business, was started more than 75 years ago.

"We've been in business forever. We're a part of this community. And when someone needs something, we try to make a bad situation as tenable as it can be."

Maag also commended staffer Mackenzie for her compassion.

As her family readies to lay her mother to rest this week, Pittelli said that she, her husband, and her children will all be wearing her mother's beloved blue to her services at Davin's Funeral Home.

They will match her mother, who will be wearing her treasured blue dress.

"This was my wish. It brought tears to my dad's eyes. We all know how much she wanted this," she said.

The pain is still palpable: "She wasn't ready," Pittelli said. "I want her back."

But there is solace in the soft fabric of a dress that carries with it the weight of time and memories. "I know that I will see that smile on her face, because of that dress," she said.