Tina Cascio Obituary

Tina Cascio

Tina Cascio Obituary (1931-2023)

Obituaries tend to be about well known public figures but the lives of ordinary people can be just as inspiring. One of the parishioners of our South London parish, Tina Cascio, who died on 11th December, two days after her 92nd birthday, is such a person.

Tina, who was christened Salvatrice (Saviour) was born in 1931 in Mussomeli in Sicily, the oldest of two girls. Her family wasn't well off, but they had enough to eat. Even from a young age, Tina had a concern for those less fortunate. She told how she would secretly smuggle food from the family cooking pot to the very poor in the village. She was also very pious with a great devotion to Our Lady and taught catechism to the children in the village.

When she was 26, like many from Italy at that time, she came to England to train as a nurse and help build up post war Britain. Although she didn't know anyone or speak a word of English, she soon settled down and made friends. Once she qualified she worked with epileptic children first in Haywards Heath and then in Leeds. After she married she returned to London to a big rambling house in Elspeth Road, which was to be her home for the next 50 years until her death. Here she brought up her two children Constantina and Salvatore, mostly as a single parent, doing cleaning jobs and factory work that better fit in with her children's schedules.

If life was a struggle she made the best of things and her home was always of hub of hospitality for all. It didn't matter if you were a close family member, a friend, a friend of a friend, or neighbour or just someone in need, you could always be sure of a welcome at Elspeth Road. Her children leant, growing up, that whatever was in the pot was to be shared!

In the 1990s, Tina became very involved with the De Paul Trust (now De Paul UK). This charity seeks to help homeless young people and rehabilitate them. This cause was very close to her heart. Through this she met several VIPs of which she was very proud. These included Princess Diana, of whom she was a great fan, the newsreader, Trevor McDonald and the then prime minister's wife, Cherie Blair, whom she mistook for the tea lady and offered to help out when she met her at 10 Downing Street.

It was the young people themselves, however, that Tina loved the most. She would spend hours cooking delicious meals for them. These would be transported by Hugh and Maud, a married couple from the parish who had a car, to the De Paul hostel in Vauxhall. There Tina would delight in ensuring that the young people got good Italian home cooking and plenty of second helpings and hugs. Hugh would often get calls late at night, insisting that he drop everything and pick her up from the local ASDA, as she had managed to get a good deal on roast chicken or some other delicacy. Tina became so well known to the ASDA staff, because of her work for the young people, that as soon as they saw her coming they would start discounting items for her.

There was no more fearsome or dedicated fundraiser than Tina. She would literally spend all day, whatever the weather, on her own if she had to, shaking her collecting tin outside Asda and Clapham Junction. Her fundraising banquets for De Paul in the parish hall were legendary as were her fundraising raffles. No one escaped. Even if you didn't want the prizes!

As well as being a woman of action and drive, Tina was also a woman of prayer. An active member of the parish prayer group for many years, she also hosted a weekly Rosary group on Tuesday evenings in her own home, to which many people, came for prayer and fellowship. Even when she was not able to get out of the house as much in her final years she made sure she always watched Mass on Italian television and loved the Pope, whose photo adorned the wall.

Tina confided in me a story that I will always remember and which sums up both her faith and her practical nature. She told me how she returned one day to her home to find an old lady sitting on the doorstep. "I'm tired," the lady said wearily. Without hesitation Tina invited the old woman in for a cup of tea. She noticed, however, that old lady's stockings were torn and her legs were dirty. Without making a fuss Tina filled a basin with hot soapy water and washed the woman's feet and then found some clean tights for her to put on.

Once the woman was rested, Tina asked her guest if she was well enough to leave or if she needed a taxi to get home, which Tina could arrange and pay for. But the woman insisted that she was fine. Concerned that old lady wouldn't be strong enough to make it down the road, Tina waited a couple of minutes after she left and then opened the door, to check how far she had got. To her surprise the woman had disappeared!" "I think maybe it was Jesus" she said in hushed tones. And maybe it was?

What struck me, however, was not only Tina's kindness to a stranger, but also her recognition of her limitations to help the woman. She didn't let all the problems that the woman might have had overwhelm her. Instead in her simplicity and humility, Tina did what she could and then let the woman go on her way, trusting in God to do the rest.

One of the great personalities of our parish, Tina was someone who despite the difficulties and challenges of her life remained loving and cheerful to the last. God bless her soul.

Tina's funeral is at 11am on 11th January at St Vincent de Paul Church, Altenburg Gardens, Battersea, London SW11