Rose Del Pizzo lived most of her life in Paterson but was equally at ease speaking Italian with strangers in Sicily, said daughter Nancy Del Pizzo. "She had a big personality and was very friendly," Nancy said. "I could not have made that trip without her."

Born in New York City, Del Pizzo moved to Elizabeth when she was 5. Her father, Federico LaMastra, was a Sicilian-born shoemaker who decided to open a bar: Fred’s Tavern on the corner of Spring and Anna streets. While living in Elizabeth, Del Pizzo graduated from Sacred Heart High School, then business school. She met her husband, Dante, at a dance hall in nearby Irvington. They married in October 1959.