Louise Ricci Mulgrew, a longtime member and supporter of ISDA, passed away just before Christmas at the age of 81.

The news was announced on social media by her children last week:

“At 5:35 on December 22nd our mother, Louise, passed away from complications due to COVID 19. She had been struggling with COVID for several days and lost the fight. Her kindness, love and patience were gifts that she shared with each of us. She loved telling stories and writing in her Blog. She just finished her 4th book of short stories about the neighborhood and family two weeks ago. So we have not heard the last of my mother just yet…All of her stories were written the old fashioned way – pen and paper.”

Louise authored the popular series “The Times of Our Lives: Tales from an Italian Neighborhood,” and was a regular contributor to our monthly newspaper, La Nostra Voce.

She was a devoted mother to eight children, and was beloved by her many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Keep an eye out for Louise’s byline in the coming months, as we plan on publishing her explorations of Italian family, culture and history over the coming months.

She will be missed, but like with so many of our late community members, her legacy will shine on.

See Louise’s obituary here, and we’ll leave you with this excerpt from the late author:

Strange as it may sound, there is no hole in our hearts left by the loss of a loved one. I suspect that’s because our hearts are so full of love and our heads so full of memories that death is really only a question of geography not loss. Geographically speaking, we know exactly where we are on the map of life, our parents made sure to give us our bearings at a young age. There’s loss but we are not lost.