Leonore Frank Moruzzi “Frankie”, 99, died peacefully at home on January 14, 2021, with family gathered around her. Born into a secular, and assimilated German Jewish family in the small German city of Würzburg, Leonore (Lore) had a happy and comfortable childhood in the lovely wine-growing region until the rise of the Nazis and the imposition of anti-Jewish laws. In 1938 her parents were able to send their two children, Lore and her younger sister Heddy, alone to distant relatives in the U.S. Assuming they would never see their parents again, the sisters arrived in Cincinnati, Ohio, and were welcomed by the Eismann family, who sponsored their parents the following year. Lore attained a Registered Nursing degree in Cincinnati, and then served as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army Nurse Corp in World War II. She was stationed mostly in field hospitals in France, and her stories of the war recalled her ability to sleep through a tent fire, rescue a pen from a camp latrine, and the personal challenge she faced when required to serve as a translator for injured German prisoners of war. Her own experience of the enduring loyalty and friendship of a few exceptional German families made her deeply aware of the complexity of dealing with national guilt and responsibility.
Despite her background, she never considered herself a refugee, but was proud of being an American immigrant who had the opportunity to forge her own life in her new country. After the war, Lore worked as an RN at Mt. Sinai Hospital in New York City, eventually becoming ward head nurse. Her work at Mt. Sinai contributed to her meeting the love of her life, Romeo Louis Moruzzi, while on a double date picnic to The Oaks, a coastal estate that had been donated for the use of Mt. Sinai nurses and nursing students. Lore’s cousin Otto Frank, also a German refugee and U.S. Army veteran, brought along his friend Romeo, and by the end of the day Lore and Romeo knew they were meant for each other. They were married a few months later. Because both their fathers were critically ill in hospital, they “eloped” and married at city hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, where Romeo was an Assistant Professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) while he worked on finishing his Electrical Engineering Ph.D. degree at Yale. The decision to forego a wedding celebration in order to be able to marry while all their parents were alive and able to feel the satisfaction of their children’s marriage, was typical of Lore and Romeo’s shared determination to meet life’s challenges with common sense determination and cheerful adaptability.
Lore and Romeo made the Worcester area their home for the rest of their lives. Lore initially worked as a nurse in Worcester hospitals. They raised their two children, Norma and Paul, in Shrewsbury, making regular family excursions to the North End of Boston where Romeo had gown up, to hiking trips in the New England Appalachian Mountains, and to Eastham on Cape Cod for summer vacations. Lore enjoyed exploring the farms, orchards, and beautiful countryside around Worcester, and always tried to take the nicest “scenic route” between two destination points. She took pride in being an excellent cook, combining local “farm to table” with new recipes that built on her European background. Both Lore and Romeo shared a love for Pete Seeger and Italian opera, and for social justice. Lore developed her own fascination with national politics. They both appreciated the tolerant community they found in the Unitarian-Universalist Church, and among the dedicated international faculty and students at WPI.
After Romeo died in 1993, Lore moved back to Worcester, maintaining her old ties while building new ones. She had great satisfaction in establishing the WPI Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education, and in supporting favorite progressive organizations. An unexpected phone call from an old Army friend resurrected her (almost too accurate) Army nickname, and friends who met her in her later years usually knew her as “Frankie.” As she aged her body became unreliable: she was a double cancer survivor, became legally blind, and was increasingly weakened by a heart condition. But she learned to accept the limits on her independence, and kept her enthusiasms and endurance until the very end, keeping an eye on political events and unceasingly grateful for the care and concern around her. Her quiet strength, stoic determination, and genuine appreciation of the small good things impressed everyone she met. To the last, she was sustained by the love of a close circle of longstanding friends and relatives. She passed away while family sat with her and her son Paul was reading poems by Carl Sandburg, her husband Romeo’s favorite poet.
Leonore “Lore”, “Frankie” Moruzzi leaves her daughter Norma Claire Moruzzi and son-in-law Kaveh Ehsani in Chicago, Illinois; her son Paul Victor Moruzzi, his wife Diane Moruzzi and grandchildren Angela and Joseph Moruzzi in Upton; and devoted friend and “other daughter” Ramesh Sadeghi in Worcester.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to either Southern Poverty Law Center, 400 Washington Avenue, Montgomery, AL 36104 Tel. 334-956-8408 or Romeo L. Moruzzi Young Faculty Award for Innovation in Undergraduate Education Office of Annual Giving, WPI, 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA 01609-2280 Tel. 877-WPI-FUND (877-974-3863). O’CONNOR BROTHERS FUNERAL HOME, 592 Park Avenue is assisting the family with arrangements.