Amy Antinori celebrates 100 years

Posted 4/21/21

Amy Antinori of Newburgh celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, April 17 with a party attended by family and friendsAmy was born in a home birth on West Street on April 13, 1921 and has spent …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Amy Antinori celebrates 100 years

Posted

Amy Antinori of Newburgh celebrated her 100th birthday on Saturday, April 17 with a party attended by family and friends
Amy was born in a home birth on West Street on April 13, 1921 and has spent nearly all of those 100 years in the City of Newburgh.

Born to a large, newly-immigrant Italian-American family, Amy was the third oldest in the Leonardo family of eight. Her mother was pregnant when she boarded the trans-Atlantic ship bound for Ellis Island and thus was first in the family to be born in the United States. Her full name America Italia Maria Lucia Leonardo Antinori but goes by Amy Aninori which more easily fits on the signature line on a check.

Having survived the COVID-19 pandemic, Amy wears a keepsake from a prior one. When her wedding band wore out, she began wearing a simple gold band on her left hand. It was in a jewelry box that was a gift from her late mother-in-law and had once belonged to her mother-in-law’s sister, who perished during the Spanish Flu of 1918-20.

Amy has lived on Oak Street for the past 66 years. She still loves sitting in the screened-in front porch and telling stories. She recalled that when she first moved to Oak Street in 1955 with her husband and two young sons, the street was filled with young families.

Everyone knew each other and experienced a wonderful sense of community. As the years quickly passed, Amy watched the children grow and start their own families.

“I’m the last one left,” she said, from the families that graced Oak Street in 1955.

The cycle of life, though, has come full circle, and many young families now live on Oak Street again.

Automobiles have long been a part of Amy’s life. Her father was a car salesman, and her husband ran Johnny’s Sunoco on Broadway for many years. To ring in her 100th, the family toured Amy around in a 1921 Dodge Touring Sedan, similar to the car her father drove when she was young. Also joining in the celebration was the City of Newburgh Fire Department.