Please join the celebration of Nicole's life on Tuesday Nov. 28th, 11am by visiting the Zoom link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87290172684?pwd=cUNsMGNGVmx1cllQZGdrYXFtVWdxdz09

Bertha Nicolina Baroncelli Festa Luciani

'Nicole'

January 7, 2025 – November 22, 2023

On Wednesday, November 22nd, 2023, our mother Nicole slipped peacefully away after a brief illness: she was just shy of her 99th birthday.

Nicole 'Betty' was born in the Bronx to Grace and Nick Baroncelli: she was the elder sister to her treasured brother, Vincent.  Living in a safe Bronx neighborhood among her extended Imperatore family, she enjoyed family card games and visits with her cousins.  When her parents split up, Nicole had to leave high school to help support the family.  In Manhattan, she worked sorting diamonds for diamond drills while looking out at the ships entering the Hudson River.

Tap dancing was her passion but she enjoyed all kinds of dance and was a star in the NY dance halls during the swing era.  Discovered and recruited to join the USO tour during WWII, to her great regret, her family would not permit her to join the tour since nice girls did not do that!    However, it was at a dance hall that she met her future husband, Joseph Festa, who was also on a weekend trip to the Catskills.  They married and shared homes with many family members.  Together, the young newlyweds had children and engaged in some shenanigans.

Nicole and Joe had three children, Kandy, Phillip, and Joanne and moved to their own single-family home in Hillsdale, New Jersey in 1959.   Family gatherings were always the center of activities in their homes in Hillsdale and River Vale, as they raised their children and then welcomed grandchildren.  Interior design and cooking were among Nicole's many talents.  She shopped for antiques and repurposed furniture.  Always ahead of her time, she delved into the burgeoning field of what would become complementary medicine, learning how vitamins, minerals and "health foods" could heal ailments and improve wellness.  From her garden, she grew her own vegetables.  Her husband Joe passed away unexpectedly at an early age, and she reinvented herself, adopting her middle name in English – Nicole.   She enjoyed writing and would author a book called "I know why you can't stop smoking and I know how you can."

Nicole remarried to Justin Luciani and passed her senior years at the Tamaron Adult community in Waldwick, NJ.  She loved trying new recipes, her computer was a high-tech cookbook where she looked up and printed new recipes.  Dining out was a favorite activity, new locales and cuisines were always sought out.  There was no shortage of food critiques as well.  In her last year, she resided at the Promenade at Chestnut Ridge, NY.

Predeceased by her parents, then by her beloved husband Joe, who passed in 1980.  Also predeceased by her second husband Justin Luciani as well as her many brothers- and sisters-in-law.  Her last heartbreak was the loss of her brother Vincent, with whom she always shared a special bond.  She is survived by her children, Kandy Festa, Phil Festa and Laurrie Cozza, and Joanne Festa and Lyle Allan; grandchildren, Jeremy and Carla Dupont, Heather and Mark Kerpen, and Kristina and Peter Argila; great-grandchildren, Garret, Sierra, and Wyatt Dupont; Jaxson and Grayson Kerpen, Alexandra and Joey DiMotta.

The family will receive visitors on Monday, November 27th from 4-8pm at Moritz Funeral Home in Tappan with church services on Tuesday, November 28th at 11pm at the Tappan Reformed Church, 32 Old Tappan Road, Tappan, NY.