Argelia Malandrino

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Longtime Tottenville resident Argelia (Nickie) Malandrino, 69, a dedicated homemaker, died yesterday in Staten Island University Hospital, Prince's Bay.

Born Argelia Saltalamachea in Havana, she moved with family to Manhattan's Lower East Side as a young girl. She grew up there and graduated from Cathedral High School.

She and Vincent Malandrino wed in April 1961 and moved to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn. They would have been married 51 years on Monday.

In 1970, they moved to Great Kills, and in 1983 settled in Tottenville.

"She was a beautiful person and a wonderful woman, understanding and jovial," said her husband. "She loved spending time with her family, and lived for her grandchildren - the youngest is 5 years old, and the oldest is 21 - this is what kept her going for 10 years."

Mrs. Malandrino enjoyed cooking, especially for the holidays. She famously prepared traditional Cuban roast pork with black beans for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day feasts, and served excellent calamari and eggplant and chicken Parmesan for Christmas Eve meals.

She was a swim team mother when her children were active in the former Royal Flamingo swim Club in Great Kills, and was a member of the Tottenville AARP.

Mrs. Malandrino was an avid reader, and especially enjoyed romance novels. She was a skilled knitter, and fashioned sweaters and scarfs for people in the oncology clinic in the Bronx where she was treated.

She was fluent in English and Spanish, and possessed an excellent speaking voice, family said.

Mrs. Malandrino was a parishioner of Our Lady Help of Christians R.C. Church in Tottenville.

Surviving, along with Vincent, her husband of 50 years, are her son, Vincent Jr.; her daughters, Deanna Longo and Gina Giordano; her brother, Albert Saltalamachea, and six grandchildren.

The funeral will be Thursday from the Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home, Tottenville, with a blessing at 10 a.m. in Our Lady Help of Christians Church. Burial will follow in Resurrection Cemetery, Pleasant Plains.

Services: Funeral Blessing-Our Lady Help of Christian's RC Church Thursday, April 5,2012 10:00AM

Visitation: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home Wednesday, April 4,2012 2-4 & 7-9PM

Cemetery: Resurrection Cemetery (Staten Island)

Location: Bedell-Pizzo Funeral Home

Church: Our Lady Help of Christians R.C.Church