World War II survivor leads Center Moriches St. Patrick's Day Parade

Philomena Vigliotta has come a long way from her ride on the Queen Mary with only a suitcase in one hand and a guitar in the other when she was just 25 years old.

As grand marshal of last Sunday’s Center Moriches St. Patrick’s Day Parade, Vigliotta smiled and waved, still in disbelief that all the cheers and applause were for her.

“I can hardly believe it,” she said. “Here I am, the grand marshal. It was a surprise.”

Born in Dublin, Vigliotta left as a young child with her parents for London. While living there, Vigliotta faced constant bombing as World War II raged on. 

While she was working at the Kensington Museum of Natural History, the building was bombed. Vigliotta vividly still remembers the day.

“I was in the building and I could hear the bomb drop,” she said. “You hear an explosion. All of the glass was shattered. We went to the basement in the building and when it was all clear, we got to go home. They had trained us during the war time to go downstairs or go to a concrete shelter if a bomb hit. When you got downstairs, they gave us a cup of tea to calm us down. It didn’t calm us down much.”

A few years after arriving in New York, Vigliotta met her husband, Ernest Vigliotta. They have been married for 67 years and have seven children, 30 grandchildren and more than 20 great-grandchildren.

SEE PHOTOSPhotos: St. Patrick's Day parade in Jamesport

Ernest Vigliotta, 91, who rode in the car with his wife for a portion of the parade, couldn’t be happier for her. Philomena Vigliotta still sings soprano and plays organ at St. John the Evangelist Roman Catholic Church in Center Moriches.

“She deserves the honor,” he said. “When I met her, her sparkly eyes caught me. I am so proud of her.”