Theresa Fretto of Sayville dies at 89

Theresa Fretto loved to sew, and she loved her church. So it's fitting that the last thing she ever sewed was a purple Lenten cover for a crucifix at her Blue Point parish.

"She finished it about two weeks ago," said daughter Denise Italiano of West Sayville. "It was hard for her, because she was really weak, but she wanted to do it."

Family, church, sewing and shopping -- those were passions for Fretto, who died Thursday of heart illness in her Sayville home, family said. She was 89.

She and her husband, Anthony, moved to Sayville in 1971, when Italiano was in high school. Italiano said her father, a manager of retail stores, wanted to move from Queens Village to the suburbs.

It was Theresa who picked out the lot in a new subdivision, where her mother and sister would live next door. "She loved it out here," mostly because family was nearby and she could sew for them, Italiano said. Fretto made custom Communion, prom and wedding dresses, first for her daughters and then cousins, friends and grandchildren.

For years, Fretto sewed for a bridal shop in Patchogue. In Manhattan, several fabric shops knew her by first name, her daughter said, and she always got great deals.

Fretto liked nothing better than to sew for family. One summer in the late 1960s, when the Frettos and their five children were going to vacation in the Poconos, she made matching swimsuits for all the kids. "Suits with big purple flowers," Italiano said, "and we all wore them."

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She was a eucharistic minister at Our Lady of the Snow Church, where she attended Mass every morning.

Her grandson Anthony Italiano described Fretto's shopping excursions with his great aunt, Helen Rosa, who died in 2004, as "historical and hysterical." They hunted bargains at Lord & Taylor and Macy's, their pocketbooks stuffed with coupons, and then boasted about their best buys afterward, Denise Italiano said.

Fretto also is survived by daughter Rosemary Fretto of Bayport; sons Dennis Fretto of Bellport and Daniel Fretto of Palm Harbor, Fla.; brother Joseph Rosa of Oceanside; and 10 grandchildren. Her husband died in 1990; daughter Maryanne died in 1971.

Visitation will be from 2 to 4:30 p.m. and 7 to 9:30 p.m. Sunday at Raynor & D'Andrea Funeral Home, West Sayville. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 9:45 a.m. Monday at Our Lady of the Snow in Blue Point, followed by burial at Trinity Cemetery in Amityville.