IN MEMORIAM: Daphne P. Pugliese, 92;
War Bride Met Husband At USO Dance
COOPERSTOWN – Mrs. Daphne Pearl Pugliese, 92, long-time resident of Cooperstown, passed away quietly in the early hours of Saturday, April 28, 2018, at Centers Health Care.
Born in Stevenage, England, a small country town about 30 minutes north of London, on Jan 21, 1926, to James (Jim) and Lizzie Worsdale, Daphne was the second eldest of four children. As the only girl for several generations, she had her parents and her grandparents wrapped around her finger. Although she attended an all-girls school, she was a self-declared tomboy who had to keep up with her three brothers, Roy, Derek, and Basil Worsdale.
After England entered the Second World War, Daphne went to work making parachutes for the Armed Services. She and her best friend Peggy would travel from work into London to dances and films.
It was at one of these USO dances that she met “Pug” – Cooperstown native son, Vito Pugliese – sergeant, waist gunner of the U.S. Air Force, who flew on the Flying Fortress Rose O’Day. Vito and Daphne were married on May 9, 1945 in St. Albans.
After the war, Daphne traveled across the Atlantic, on the then troopship Queen Mary, with her baby son, Terance, to live with Vito in Cooperstown. She and Vito went on to have four more children: Janie, Linda, Lennie and Stephen. Later in life she would reminisce about these war years as the best times of her life.
Daphne was a superb cook who served and fed thousands of Cooperstonians and visitors from the late 1940s through the late 1970s, first at the Glimmerglass Restaurant where she worked for her in-laws, and then as co-owner and cook at the Pratt Hotel and Vito’s Restaurant.
She was famous for her sauce, her spaghetti and meatballs, her soup, and her chicken and potatoes. To her kids and grandkids she passed on her love of toast with cinnamon sugar (to be fair, it was more sugar than cinnamon), sandwiches of Wonderbread, bologna and mayonnaise (or just Wonderbread and mayonnaise in a pinch), and soft-boiled eggs with toast soldiers.
She was a kind and patient mother and grandmother, who gave kisses on the ear and called you
“Dah-ling” or “Sweetheart.” She loved lilacs and peonies, and red cardinals. Her favorite color was baby blue, although you’d often see her wearing pink or red. And no holiday was complete without a festive sweatshirt.
Her favorite TV shows were Benny Hill and “Wheel of Fortune.” Her favorite singers were Pavorati, The Three Tenors, Susan Boyle and Rod Stewart (not necessarily in that order). She loved shopping, and she was on a first-name basis with the employees at Bed Bath & Beyond. With her grandkids and great grandkids, she endured endless games of Go Fish, Crazy 8s, and Gin Rummy.
Daphne will be both missed and remembered by many. She is survived by her brother, five children and their spouses/partners and former spouses, 10 grandchildren, 16 great-grandchildren, and numerous extended family members and friends she thought of as family.
She was preceded in death by her parents, her brother Roy, her brother Basil, and her husband Vito. Her brother Roy (a Royal Air Force pilot shot down over Italy in 1944) was there to welcome her home as she passed over.
A graveside service will be at 11 a.m. Friday, May 4, at St. Mary’s Cemetery in Cooperstown, with a celebration of her life and refreshments thereafter at the Vets Club on Main St. All are welcome. In lieu of gifts or flowers, please send donations to Daphne’s favorite thrift shop and charity, the Susquehanna Animal Shelter.
Arrangements are under the care of Tillapaugh Funeral Service, Cooperstown.