Frances Isgro

Mrs. Frances (Roberto), died peacefully October 11, 2016 at age 91 surrounded by her loving children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Frances was born Francesca Roberto in 1925 in Bisaccia, Italy to Mariantonia DiGianni and Pietro Roberto. Pietro was a chef in the Cincinnati area and Mariantonia bought several parcels of land and a vineyard, which is how Frances developed a green thumb and a love for growing plants. After the death of her mother in 1945, she graduated from the Instituto Patrocinio San Guiseppe di Caserta ( the Institute of Patron Saint Joseph of Caserta) in Caserta, Italy in July 1946 and was awarded a four-year baccalaureate degree to be a teacher. She always had a good story to tell us about her time growing up in Italy. One year after graduating, she was one of the first privileged passengers to board the ship S.S. Saturnia to the United States of America after World War II ended. Her father, Pietro and her brother, Angelo, greeted her on Ellis Island in New York on February 5,1947. They came back to Hamilton, Ohio where she lived with her brother, Angelo, and his wife, Alvira (LoBuono) Roberto and their child, Marie. Her sister-in-law Alvira got her a special job where she could learn English with the help of a very special Italian co-worker, Carmela (Molly) Isgro. Molly loved her and introduced her to her parents, Carmelo and Maria (Saija) Isgro, who also loved her, and all her seven brothers. One brother, Santino (Sanni) Isgro, who was home on furlow from his U.S. Air Force duties, introduced himself to Frances and offered to give Frances a scenic tour of beautiful Hamilton, Ohio. It was that night when he proposed to Frances and asked her to marry him. In September 1948, Sanni and Frances married in Meridian, Mississippi before he arrived at Keesler Field in Biloxi. Frances loved being a military wife to a World War II hero who was a gunner in several battles and attacks. She went on to give Sanni five children, and was a hard working woman. Frances Isgro loved the United States of America and always said there’s no other country like it. “God bless America!” was what she always said. She loved embroidery and sewing and gardening. She was a homeowner in Port Richey, Florida but enjoyed her visits back to Hamilton. Frances was a devouted and loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. She was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Giuseppe Roberto and Angelo Roberto, her beloved husband, Santino “Sanni” Isgro, and her beloved son, Antony Isgro and many brother- and sister-in-laws. She leaves behind her beloved sons, Carmine Isgro and Michael Isgro, and her beloved daughters Vivian (Russ) Hazelwood and Anna Marie Isgro and her beloved grandchildren Johnathan Gill, Jessica (Steve) Hilbert, and Jacqueline Santina Gill, and her beloved great-grandchildren Anthony Wayne Hamilton, Brooklyn Marie Hilbert, Tiaonna Marie Range and Tajah Miakka Range. Frances also leaves behind many beloved nieces and nephews and her many, many friends who adored her and will miss her. Visitation will be at the Colligan Funeral Home on Friday evening, October 14, 2016 from 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm and on Saturday from 9:30 am – 10:30 am. Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 11:00 am Saturday at St. Julie Billiart Church and then burial in St. Stephen Cemetery.