Obituary

With class, dignity, she raised eight children

The door to Josephine Versaggi's home on Davis Islands was always open, her dinner table always crowded.

DAVIS ISLANDS - To a generation of kids who grew up on David Islands, Josephine Versaggi's place was like a second home.

"The door was always open," said her daughter Rosanne Versaggi. "And anybody who walked through that door was considered family."

It's not like Mrs. Versaggi, who died on March 27 on her 90th birthday, didn't have her hands full with her own family. She raised eight children - six boys and two girls - almost single-handedly.

Still, she always made room at the dinner table for anyone else who wanted to join.

"There was always something on the stove, and anyone who was in the house at dinner time, was welcome to stay for dinner," Rosanne Versaggi said.

Mrs. Versaggi was born Josephine Gentile in Reitano, Sicily, but moved to New York with her parents when she was about 4 years old.

"Like all the immigrant families, they settled in Little Italy, and after that they moved to Brooklyn," said Sal Versaggi, the oldest of the eight children.

It was in New York that she met and married Joseph Versaggi. All of their children were born in New York.

Even in those days, their father spent most of his time working at the Fulton Street Fish Market. He started at 3:30 a.m., worked all day, had dinner with his family, then went to bed. On weekends, he was usually on the telephone doing business.

The family moved to Tampa in 1959, when Joseph Versaggi joined his father's company, Versaggi Shrimp. He worked primarily in South America and came home only two or three times a year.

So it was Mrs. Versaggi who raised their eight children. It was a role for which she was well-suited and even passionate.

"She was just content to stay around the house," Sal Versaggi said. "She tried to join the garden club, but she was just happier at home."

Mrs. Versaggi didn't even learn to drive until she was in her mid 40s, and seldom left Davis Islands. Cooking was a big part of her life, and she did almost all her shopping at Pete's, a neighborhood grocery on Davis Islands.

She was a homebody, but she wasn't a recluse. In fact, her children said, she was remarkably outgoing. Besides her kids and their friends, she often entertained a group of neighborhood women who referred to themselves as the Rat Pack.

"JoJo was one of us, but she was also our philosophical mentor," said Joan Wagner, a member of the Rat Pack. "We were younger, so we'd turn to her with questions about our children. She'd say "Be there for them and listen to them, but don't give them too much advice."'

Mrs. Versaggi was a tiny woman, standing just over 5 feet tall. But her friends and family recall that she had a calm demeanor, even in the midst of the turmoil that an eight-child house with a steady stream of visitors often endured.

"I never saw her complain," Wagner said. "She would always take life as it came. I feel so lucky to have known her and to have been part of this family."

A few years ago, when Mrs. Versaggi was in her late eighties, she invited her older sister, who was in failing health, to live with her. They shared the Davis Islands house together, then moved to the Grand Court on Bayshore Boulevard after Mrs. Versaggi had a stroke about a year ago.

"She made a valiant effort, but she was 89 years old and didn't have the strength to do the exercises and the other things she needed to do," Sal Versaggi said.

Even at Grand Court, Mrs. Versaggi's home was an active place. Family members, including her 10 grandchildren, were visiting almost constantly.

So right up until the end, Mrs. Versaggi lived exactly the kind of life that best suited her - in her home, surrounded by her family.

"She had a lot of class," her daughter said. "She had a quiet dignity."

City Times headlines
[an error occurred while processing this directive]