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View Tree for Thelma CagnolattiThelma Cagnolatti (b. 14 June 1904, d. 1993)

Thelma Cagnolatti (daughter of Oscar Jr Cagnolatti and Louise Fortier) was born 14 June 1904, and died 1993. She married (1) William Earl White. She married (2) Preston L. Chenier.

 Includes NotesNotes for Thelma Cagnolatti:
" I REMEMBER MY MAMA" Submitted by. June Pujaud March 19, 1998.
The Cagnolatti I can best write about is my Mother, Thelma. She was the only child of Oscar and Louise Fortier Cagnolatti, born June 14, 1904. From the stories I have heard, she was treated as a little princess, having lost her mother to typhoid fever when she was only five years of age. She was then reared by her grandmother, Julie Farr Cagnolatti and Aunt, Louise Cagnolatti, (who incidentally lived to be 99 years and 8 months of age, and never married or had children). {That is why she lived so long}.

Mother married Earl White, and had four children - Earl, Jr., Carolyn, Noel and June. We moved from New Orleans to Chicago in 1944. She and my dad separated when I was 8 years of age. Because she was so catholic, she did not file for divorce until 8 years later, when she married a widower, Preston Chenier, (whom she knew from childhood in New Orleans) in1963. Theirs was a solid happy marriage until Preston died of a massive heart attack in 1964.

Mother was very soft spoken, but was much like Teddy Roosevelt - she carried a big stick. She could give you a mighty tounge lashing without ever raising her voice or using any profanity. If she were ever provoked enough to curse, she apologized for using her "flowery" language. (Believe me, she never got more "flowerly" than the four letter S----word!) She was only 5'1", but , there were times we swore she was 6 feet tall. I can remember as a child, that no matter how many people were at the bus stop when we got there, somehow or other, we were always the first ones on the bus!

When we moved to a new neighborhood, naturally she found the nearest Catholic Church. We were the only "colored people" attending one particular church in Chicago. Once a white man sitting next to her seemed determined to make sure that even her coat sleeve didn't touch him throughout the mass. She finally leaned over and whispered (rather loudly) "Sir I don't bite and I won't fade on you, so please kneel up, say your prayers and ask God to forgive you!"

We always said Mother was like a cat with nine lives! She had some fo the damedest things happen to her, but she always bounce back! Here are nines ways I remember, though I know there were many others. 1) She was hit by cars twice, injured each time, but came through it all with no permanent injuries. Believe it or not, the second incident was a diverless car when the brake slipped, the car backed down the driveway, crossed the street, came up on the curb and hit her while her back was turned as she was watering her grass; 2) She was mauled bya neighbor's German Shepared while taking a walk, suffering numerous severe bites from her knee to her hip; 3) She slipped while a patient in Kaiser hospital being treated for a heart attack, hitting her head on the sliding glass door shattering it. She could have been beheaded. according to the doctor, but the falling glass, missed her altogether. She said everyone was excited, the nureses were hyperventilating, and she didn't even get a headache! 4) Then there's the time she fell off of the MTA bus on her way to work, had to be rushed tot he hospital and was released without a scratch or a headache! (Guess there's something to be said for a hard head.) 5) And how about the time she had to be carried out of the Broadway Department Store (where she was employed at the time) on a stretcher having gotten some sort of food poisoning form their cafeteria, and had to be hospitalized for a week. We never knew what to expect next. 6) There's also the time she accidentally backed her car THROUGH her garage door when her foot slipped as she was trying to back up "just a little" after she closed the garage door. Her neighbors and son-in-law built her a new garage door that same day. She wouldn't have had it any other way. 7) Or, the time she got out of her car to close her garage, clamied to have put the car in "Park", but the car proceeded backward down the driveway, wheels locked in position, and went around and around a tree on her parkway until a neighbor jumped in the passenger side and was able to turn off the engine. 8) There was also the time a doctor prescribed some medication which had a very adverse affect on her, and she "lost it" for about a week. During the time, people invaded her home, trashed it, took hostage, stole her belongings, and sent her to the hospital which was on fire all night"! She finally came out of it a week later, but was able to relate the entire story over and over. It was Thaksgiving Day and a week we will never foreget! And finally. 9) there are the numerous trips to Kaiser in the middle of the night! Most of Mother's late afternoon. From 1975 to 1995, she was in and out of the various medical facilities- Gardena refused to take her to Kaiser in Harbor City which she preferred, and took her to King Drew Medical Center or "Killer King"as it is known. I received a call at work asking me to come and get her, in as much as she would not allow ANYof their personnel to touch her.

Mother loved to laugh. She had a great sense of humor, and pride, pride, pride. She would do things she 's swear she wasn't going to tell, (like falling on her bottom off a step stool that we had cautioned not to climb) and then would laugh and couldn't resist telling on herself anyway. She was also very proud. I remember going to see her in the hospital once, only to find her sitting in bed with her arms folded and in quite a huff because she "had never eaten hamburger meat in her life for Sunday dinner". After I convinced her that it was "Salisbury Steak", she offred to eat it!

Mother insisted on living alone in her home until she was finally unable to do so. She had to be moved to a convalescent home, where she lived only five day. She passed on December 2, 1995 at the age of 91 years and 6 months.

We miss her laughter, and spunk, but we also thank God we had her that long.

****IN CASE YOU DIDN'T NOTICE, I SAID "MOTHER" THROUGHOUT THIS MARRATIVE. THELMA DEFINATELY DID NOT ALLOW US TO CALL HER "MAMA".


Children of Thelma Cagnolatti and William Earl White are:
  1. +William E Jr. White.
  2. +Carolyn Marie White.
  3. +Noel Frederick White.
  4. +June Margret White.
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