Caroline Shullo, 96, arrived on Ellis Island from Italy

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Caroline Shullo was a wide-eyed 7-year-old when she stepped off the boat at Ellis Island on July 4, 1920.

Her father, Antonio Porrazzo, was already in Ohio and waiting for his wife Carmela, daughter Caroline and six other children to come from Italy.

Just off the boat, someone handed them a bunch of bananas, something they had never seen before.

"They kept looking at it and turning it all around trying to figure it out," said Caroline Shullo's son, John Shullo of Atlanta. "Then someone showed them how to peel it and eat it. They said, 'Oh, so this is how you do it.' "

It was a "Welcome to America" moment. And from then on, Mrs. Shullo began blending two cultures into one and feeding the natural curiosity that kept her so engaging to others, friends said.

Caroline Shullo, 96, died Oct. 26 of complications from a heart attack at St. Joseph's Hospital in Atlanta. A memorial service is planned for 10 a.m. Nov. 21 at St. Jude the Apostle Catholic Church in Atlanta.

Mrs. Shullo would share stories with family and friends of her life growing up during the Great Depression in Hamilton, Ohio. She lived in a mid-American small town, but in an entirely Italian neighborhood, her son said.

Her family home was built from a $350 Sears Roebuck kit, Mr. Shullo said. The full basement was dug out one shovelful at a time by neighbor men, all Italian immigrants, working side by side, he said.

Neighbors and relatives would gather inside over a big pot of spaghetti, with sauce that had simmered all day with bits of tough meat cooked until tender, Mr. Shullo said. "In Italy, you didn't have meat, so having meat in America was a big deal," he said.

Mrs. Shullo's stories made an impression on the Atlanta children she babysat for as a senior citizen.

"She was so engaging," said Chrissy Orangio, 22, of Montana, formerly of Atlanta.

Mrs. Shullo told how she met her husband, Amedeo Shullo, also an Italian immigrant. The eligible bachelor in his 30s had an eye for Mrs. Shullo, but at first she would have nothing to do with him, as her son recalls.

They married in 1936 and spent their lives together in Indiana and Ohio. Mr. Shullo died in 1975, and four years later Mrs. Shullo moved from Ohio to Atlanta to be near her son and his family.

She began to blossom as a senior citizen, babysitting for the grandchildren of her friends, Mr. Shullo said. Others families saw the bond she had with children and they asked her to babysit for them too, he said. Friendships flourished over the years.

Pat Orangio called Mrs. Shullo the "adopted Atlanta grandmother" of her children, Daniel and Chrissy.

"She just loved children. Our daughter had a special relationship with her. Chrissy would call Caroline and they would talk for hours," Mrs. Orangio said.

Throughout her teens, Ms. Orangio visited regularly with Mrs. Shullo. The two would play bingo with residents at the Campbell Stone North Retirement Community in Atlanta where Mrs. Shullo lived.

Mrs. Shullo would make her special recipe of spaghetti and meatballs. She taught the teen how to make biscotti, and very subtly, taught her how to care for others, Ms. Orangio said.

"She was so curious about other people. She was always asking about their lives and wanting to know about them," Ms. Orangio said.

In addition to her son, Mrs. Shullo is survived by a daughter, Mary Jo Osterman of Kildeer, Ill.