Lucille J. Totoni

Services will be private for the family only. A memorial service for the public will be held at a later date.

Lucille J. (Lu) Totoni (née Manelli) passed away peacefully in her home on the morning of Saturday, March 28, 2020 in
Itasca, Illinois at the beautiful age of 96.
Lu is survived by her loving and caring daughter Susan Favia and her husband John, with whom she shared a home. She
also leaves behind her grandchildren Nick (Cathy) Stevens, Chris (Sandi) Favia, Lisa (Kevin) Allen, and George (Allison)
Andrikokus as well as her great-grandchildren Jack Stevens, Zach and Matt Favia, and Clara and George Andrikokus.
“Aunt Lu” will also be missed by an incredible four generations of nieces and nephews who grew up with her as a fixture in
their lives. Lu has also left her beloved dog Mia, who she shared with Sue and John.
She was preceded in death by the love of her life and husband of 62 years Christ Totoni, her daughter Niki Lynn (James)
Stevens, and a lively houseful of sisters Philomena, Mary, Florence, Carmella (Millie), Susan, and Annie.
Lu was born in Chicago on June 29, 1923, the youngest daughter of Rosaria Manelli. Her father had left his family of little
girls shortly before she was born. Rosaria managed to keep the family together with the help of her older daughters and
taking in borders when she could. While life was a struggle going into the Depression and the family was very poor, they
were still happy in a home full of love, where everybody in the family pitched in. Lu never forgot things like waiting for the
Salvation Army truck to come down the street and hoping to be able to get a new pair of shoes. She also never forgot other
people’s kindness and charity, and later in life, she herself became generous to a fault. When Lu was old enough herself,
she got an office job at Just Manufacturing, a stainless-steel sink maker that was just getting started (it still exists today, now
in Franklin Park). She still recalled with pride being able to take the bus back on Fridays to bring money home to her mom.
Like most girls her age she loved going to the movies – especially musicals – and dances. Over eighty years later she could
still sing the title song to an otherwise obscure movie “Sing, Baby, Sing” from 1936. And it’s a good thing she liked to
dance too, because it was at a dance that she met Christ, and fell in love. Christ served with the U.S. Army’s CBI Theater
command in India during WWII, and Christ and Lu were married in an Albanian Orthodox service in July of 1945 at St.
Nicholas when he was able to get a short leave to come home to Chicago, and then had second Catholic service with a
dress and everything at Holy Rosary before he had to report back. She loved Christ so much she married him twice.
They moved to the small neighborhood of Smith Park near Grand and Western in Chicago to a house on Artesian they
would call home for over forty years. There were extended family members on the surrounding streets, and Lu and Christ’
house became a hub for big dinners and late-night card games and always – family. Christ joined the family business, an
LTL and cartage company Nick Totoni & Sons on the near west side near Hubbard and Nobel. Lu helped out by
answering phones and dispatching from their basement at home. As they raised Niki and Sue, Lu also indulged her lifelong love of animals by taking care of and – more than occasionally – adopting neighborhood dogs that were abused or
abandoned by their owners, just as she welcomed people who needed love and a good meal into her home too.
Lu and Christ moved to Park Street in Bensenville in the mid 80’s to be closer to their girls who had both moved out to the
suburbs with their growing families. That home too became the center for everyone who knew her, and Lu the heart of the
family. Her endlessly generous spirit welcomed all, and she was a life-long supporter of many Catholic charities around the
country. She slipped easily into the role of grandmother – helping to raise, watch, and entertain her four adored
grandchildren, and in that Lu became Nana – the Italian grandmother everyone wished they had. And to another new
generation of family, friends, and the extended family she gathered for herself out to the corners of the country she became
their Nana too, eventually the only name most people ever used or some even knew.
Niki passed away in Nana’s home after a long battle with cancer in 2003. After 62 years of loving marriage, she lost Christ
in 2008. Nana eventually moved in with Sue and John, and of course more dogs. The family dog mysteriously started
putting on weight almost immediately. Soon, as always, Nana became a leading character in the life of their condo building,
winning scores of dear friends among her new neighbors. In her later years the late-night card games were long gone, but
Nana still loved to indulge in “going on the boat” whenever she could talk (or guilt) someone into taking her. “Good
things come in small packages” may be a tired phrase, but this tiny woman with a huge heart and even bigger personality
was the embodiment of it, and the absence of Lu “Nana” Totoni will leave an enormous hole in the hearts and lives of all
who were blessed to know her in her incredible 96 years.