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Adeline De Santis had not worked outside her home before her husband's death. To <br />supplement the $50 per month insurance payments she received for about 3 years from <br />the mining company's insurer, she began doing washing and ironing for people in <br />Louisville who could afford it. In 1936, Social Security death benefits were not yet in <br />effect. Therefore, none of the widows and children of the deceased miners received any <br />governmental death benefit. When the compensation ended, Adeline, with very little <br />experience, sought work outside the home. She started as a salad maker in restaurants. <br />During World War II, she worked in the restaurant at the Remington Arms Munitions <br />plant at the Federal Center. Towards the end of the war, she worked in the restaurant at <br />Union Station in Denver. She also worked for Bauer's in Denver, a candy company that <br />also made cakes and pastries. Later on, as the restaurant business grew in Louisville, she <br />worked as a cook at Colacci's. She retired in 1965 at the age of 62. <br />Adeline De Santis was also very musical. She loved to sing in the choir and with other <br />Louisville women put on theatrical musicals. At the age of 65, she taught herself to play <br />the piano by mail order instructions. <br />Adeline was also active in the Louisville Garden Club. In 1957, she and fellow club <br />members were the moving force behind the establishment of Louisville's first park, <br />Pirate's Park, now maintained by the City of Louisville. <br />Adeline De Santis died on May 31, 1986, at the age of 82, over 50 years after her <br />husband's death. She never remarried. She is buried alongside her husband Tony in the <br />Louisville Cemetery with a common headstone above their adjacent graves. <br />Despite the hardship of their father's death while they were still children, the De Santis <br />children persevered and thrived. [Cohen then told of what the DeSantis children did <br />with their lives.] <br />This newspaper photo of Tony DeSantis is from a scrapbook kept by Adeline's niece and <br />donated to the Museum: <br />7 <br />