Teresa Algee was born in December of 1940 in Erie, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Frank Romeo, an Italian immigrant from Castellace, and Mary, the daughter of parents from the same village.
Teresa attended Edinboro College in Pennsylvania, but she grew tired of Pennsylvania winters and moved to California to join her brother Joe in Los Angeles. A few years later, she went with friends to Europe, where they bought a Volkswagen Bus for an adventure that lasted several months. After returning, she married and began to grow her family.
Teresa was actively involved with every teacher, classroom, field trip, volunteer opportunity, fundraiser, and graduation for her children’s schools, even long after they graduated. She was the PTA President for several years at Portola Elementary and eventually accepted a position at the school that lasted over twenty years. Teresa was very active in Twins Club, Sacred Heart Church, and the Italian Catholic Federation.
Teresa was famous for her home-cooked Italian foods and for being incredibly social. She could not walk through a grocery store, restaurant, or parking lot, without stopping and chatting with a friend. That magic combination of loving people and cooking, provided for a kitchen table that was never big enough, a home that was never large enough, and a refrigerator that was always full and ready to serve an impromptu meal for whoever stopped by. In Teresa’s home, friends and family were the same, so her holidays and gatherings had an equal mix of both. Teresa celebrated alongside everyone in her social circle by cooking for graduation parties, weddings, births, baptisms, illnesses, funerals, fundraisers, etc.
Teresa had her own special traditions: on Halloween, while the neighborhood children lined up at the door for candy, yelling “it's the lunch line lady!” adults enjoyed homemade pizza slices handed out to the crowd gathered inside. Teresa regularly led children's classrooms in making gingerbread houses and mini pizzas; for adults, she held classes on making her famous meatballs. During the Covid shutdown, Teresa worried for her friends who lived alone, so she cooked, and her husband drove, and together they delivered months and months of hot meals to their friend’s doorsteps. Teresa was loved for her “tell it like it is” attitude; she believed in love, forgiveness, laughter, and fun. She used her cooking skills to bring people together. She did an extraordinary job on this earth, she was universally loved by all, and she will be greatly missed.
Teresa is survived by her husband of over 50 years, Wade. Her five children, Mark, Michele, Marcia, Maria, and Matthew, two grandchildren, Sekoya and Emily, her brothers Carmen and Joseph, her sisters-in-law Kathie and Carol, thirteen nieces and nephews, and innumerable friends.
Family and friends are invited to a Funeral Mass of Christian Burial and reception will be held at Sacred Heart Church on Monday, June 6th at 10:00 am, followed by reception. Interment will follow at Ivy Lawn Cemetery. All are welcomed. Arrangements are under the direction of the JOSEPH P. REARDON FUNERAL HOME & CREMATION SERVICE, 757 E. Main Street Ventura.