Santa Licata

Santa Licata, a beloved mother and grandmother, passed away peacefully on February 18, 2024 in
her home in Glendale, Queens, New York. Santina, as she was affectionally known, was born on
November 2, 1937 in Camporeale, Sicily, to Maria Milazzo and Nicolo Sacco. Camporeale is where
she was raised and where she met and married her husband, Nicola Licata.
In 1966, together with her new husband, Santina trekked across the Atlantic and emigrated to
Brooklyn, New York to start a new life in a new world. In Bushwick, she lived within a community of
transplanted Sicilians, made up of her husband’s siblings and their families. Shortly after, they
crossed the border from Brooklyn to Queens and moved to Glendale, where they raised their three
sons, Vincent, Nick, and Jack. She spent the last fifty years of her life in Glendale.
She dedicated her life to her family and worked tirelessly to ensure that her husband and three sons
were always provided with an exceptional and hearty meal. Whether times were lean or flush, the
cupboards were never bare and the table was always full.
Santina placed an emphasis on her sons having a proper education inside and outside of the
classroom. No matter the cost, her three sons attended the best parochial schools available. She
also instilled in each of them a strong sense of empathy, morals, and integrity, and she modeled
these same ideals herself.
She was utterly selfless and unconditionally generous. Family members, neighbors, friends, and
anyone else who sat at her dining table were left in awe by the dizzying array of food that she
magically produced at a moment’s notice. After toiling away in the kitchen, she would wait until
everyone’s plate was full before sitting down to feed herself.
Santina was fiercely independent and lived life on her terms all the way to the end. Into her mid-80s,
she cooked, shopped, maintained her house and yard, despite enduring multiple health setbacks
and surgeries. She remained strong of mind, body, and spirit all the way to her last moments. She
lived life on her own terms and she left this earth on her own terms.
She was a devout Catholic who enjoyed attending services at St. Pancras church and especially
loved watching live programs from the Vatican on her beloved Italian television channel RAI TV. She
was a woman of quiet, but deep, faith. In her last few years, she deeply invested in her faith journey
and found that it brought her comfort and encouragement.
In 1998, her first grandchild, Nicola, was born, and from that moment on she was Nonna, a role that
she loved above all others. Six more grandkids followed: Anthony, Sofia, Vincent, Nicholas, Juliette,
and Isabella. They meant everything to her and she meant everything to them. She made each
child feel as if they were the most important person in the world and in her eyes, they were.
Her sons’ wives, Susan, Elizabeth, and Biana, were more than just her daughters-in-law, they were
truly her daughters and she was a second mother to each of them. She had a home away from
home in South Orange, NJ where she would stay for extended visits. Her son’s close group of
friends and their kids embraced her, and she became their “Nonna,”-- as they also affectionately
called her.
Santa’s love reached across the country and the world. In New York, New Jersey, Utah, Florida, and
California live the many nieces, nephews, sisters-in-law, brothers-in-law, and cousins, who are all
saddened by her passing. In Sicily, the families of her predeceased siblings, Calogero Sacco, Vita
Sacco, and Bartolomeo Sacco, all absolutely adored her and loved to Facetime with her every
holiday season.

Santa’s defining legacy is how her sense of empathy, her self-sacrificing ways, her welcoming spirit,
and her unconditional love and generosity, broke through language barriers, cultural barriers, and
generational barriers, to make anyone in her presence feel loved.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Santa Licata, please visit our floral store.