Our precious mother, Julia M. Paro, passed away on Tuesday January 26, 2021 at age 92 after a fall, and a
brief stay at the Van Duyn Rehabilitation Center in Syracuse, New York.

Mom retired from Nationwide Insurance as an insurance adjuster, and devoted the rest of her life to her children. Julia was a resident of Centerville Court in North Syracuse, New York for over 25 years.

Mom was tough, and when she got riled up or annoyed, Mom had a vocabulary of curse words that would make most truck drivers blush. She was tough, she carried a big stick. Mom affectionately called it; “the board of education.” As children, my sister and I would find that board and hide it. That never worked out well. We learned very early in life that Mom missed her calling as a private detective. So, my sister and I would resort to “Plan B.” We would try to out run her. That didn’t work well either. In her day, Mom was light on her feet and fast. We never could out run her.

Mom loved, and lived a long full life into her 90’s, and after her retirement devoted the rest of her life to her children. Our Mom loved to keep moving. She loved to spend afternoons playing cards with her friends in the North Syracuse Centerville Community Clubhouse, or at a local casino making her weekly donation. She will be missed and remembered by all who knew her.

Mom was preceded in death by her husband, Robert Donald Paro;, and her brothers, John, Nicholas, Joseph, and Charles Alfonsetti.

She is survived by her romantic interest and her life long companion and best friend of over 50 years, Mr. Ralph
Parloto, “Ralphy”, of Cicero, New York. She was the beloved mother of her two children, her daughter, Folly
Posenauer, her son, Gary, and his wife, Jeannie of Los Angeles California and Anne G. Paro of Lakeland Florida.
She is also survived by her two grandchildren, Chanin Robert Paro and Amber Paro Trovato; and one great granddaughter, Miss Lilly Grace Trovato, all residing in Florida. Mom also had several nieces and nephews; Nicky and Linda Alfonsetti, and Mrs. Maria Paro Boiko of Baldwinsville New York.

A memorial service will be held in the mausoleum at the Woodlawn Cemetery at 800 Grant
Boulevard, Syracuse New York 13203 on Saturday March 13, 2021 at 11:00 AM followed by a celebration of Julia
Paro’s life at her residence located at 400 Sandra Lane, North Syracuse, New York 13214.

Finally, the family ask in honor of our mother, Julia Paro’s life that you write to your congressman or call the New York State Department of Health and ask them to initiate charges to enforce a more caring and compassionate oversight for our senior citizens at the Van Duyn Rehabilitation Center and other senior care facilities in upstate New York. Our mother was an active, independent, mentally sharp, mobile and healthy 92 year old who was living on her own when she fell and fractured her shoulder in her apartment one fateful evening. She was admitted into the Van Duyn Rehabilitation Center for physical therapy. That was the last time we saw our mother alive.

She contracted COVID-19 while there, and she passed away from complications due to dehydration. We loved her and miss her very much. We all understand the unprecedented stressful situation that COVID-19 has created for our health care workers. However, isolating our seniors from all visitations from their family members, and their friends, while in these health care facilities, compounded with no reports from any doctors and no telephone communication between the elderly patient and their family members for weeks, is cruel, debilitating, sad and completely unacceptable. Sending our fragile senior citizens into one of these “care facilities” in New York State, especially now during this COVID-19 pandemic is a very dangerous and potentially life threatening situation.

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