Jun 27 2008
In Memoriam
Wednesday night the world lost a remarkable person, Anna Artuso Puma. She was 86 years old. Though Puma wasn’t a celebrity in the strictest definition of the word (is a widely recognized or famous person who commands a high degree of public and media attention), to those who knew her she was a star.
In the 1960s Anna and her husband, John opened Artuso’s Bakery in the Woodlawn section of the Bronx. From that time on she became a part of what it meant to be from the neighborhood. Anyone with in a twenty mile radius knew that the best pastries came from Artuso’s. But it wasn’t just tasty treats that made the bakery special, for those who grew up within walking distance, it became like a second home.
Some of my earliest memories are of going there with my mother, and being welcomed with open arms. The air would always be filled with the sweet aromas of freshly backed treats that, once in your mouth, were almost as warm as the hugs Anna would always give me. It wasn’t shopping it was like visiting family.
And it was like that for everyone. Once you visited, you were remembered forever. Graduations, Birthdays, weddings, Anna was a part of every important celebration in, if only through the love backed into the cakes.
She never forgot anyone. When the troops were sent to war in Vietnam, Desert Strom, and most recently Operation Iraqi Freedom; baked goods were sent over to them (for free) as an incentive to make it home.
Anna gave the world more than just mouth watering delicacies, she gave everyone a feeling of self-worth, and on a more personal note, she gave a little girl the adoring grandmother she otherwise would not have had.
