Olivia Fertitta Serio

Olivia attended Beaumont public schools until high school, where she graduated from St. Anthony Catholic High School. She attended college for one semester, but she later confessed she spent more time with her friends at the Pig Stand than in class! She fell in love and married Joseph A. Serio, of New Roads, Louisiana, in 1947 at St. Anne Catholic Church. She was a devoted wife and cared for him lovingly when he became ill and passed away in 1967. Olivia never desired to marry again, always saying there was only one man she could ever love.

She took all that love in her heart and gave it to all her family as a wonderful sister, sister-in-law, and aunt. Her dedication to her sisters, brothers, Joe’s brothers and sister, and their families was without limits. If love can be measured by the number of names given to you, then it can be said that her love and devotion was returned many times over. Starting life as Olivia, then Aunt Olivia, then Weever, then Aunt Weea, and finally Lea Lee (her spelling), each name was given in love by the subsequent generations of her family.

Olivia was by far best known for her culinary skills. She was at home in the kitchen and enjoyed feeding the ones she loved. Her hundreds of recipes were preserved in the cookbook her niece, JoRita, wrote with her. The sessions to decipher the recipe cards for the cookbook would usually end with peals of laughter as they tried to come to an understanding what her notes in the margin really said because her left handed “chicken scratch” writing was famously undecipherable.

Olivia was a faithful parishioner of St. Anne Catholic Church and was a daily communicant, devoted to attending the 6:25 AM daily Mass and as a regular adorer in the Perpetual Adoration Chapel until illness prevented her from being able to attend. She was a Lady of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre. She was a member of the St. Anne Ladies, served as its President and was named Volunteer of the Year. She cooked for many years for the Soup Kitchen for Some Other Place every month until she was physically unable to any longer, but the current cooking team still uses her famous recipe for beans and rice. Olivia was a member of the ACTS community and served on many of the earliest retreat teams in the Beaumont area. She attended many bible studies and volunteered in any other way she was needed.

She was a volunteer at St. Elizabeth Hospital in the Gray Ladies program for many years in the 1970’s and volunteered at St. Anne School in the library in the late 1960’s.

She will always be remembered for her quick smile, her ability to laugh at herself, her inability to look at the camera, her unselfish love and, of course, her bruccelitini’s and riceballs.

We are ever thankful for the angels who gave her unceasing love and devotion in the last five years as her body and her mind slowly diminished. There is no way to express our thanks for the loving care that they gave “Miss Olivia”. Thank you to Katherine Veazey, Claudia Pena, Sheila Busceme, Diane Segura, Martha Justice, Candy Melendez and Brenda Murphy for caring for her like your own mother. Also, we would like to thank the staff of Calder Woods and Buckner Hospice for your care and dedication.

Survivors include her sister, Charlene Busceme, and husband, Carlo; sister-in-law, Nancy Fertitta; and numerous nieces and nephews, great nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews.

She is preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Joseph A. Serio; sisters, Marietta Fertitta and Sr. Jo Rita Fertitta, O.P.; brothers, Joseph “Pep” Fertitta; and Charles J. Fertitta, Jr and his wife, Rose Ann Fertitta.

A Rosary will be recited for Mrs. Serio at 6:00 p.m., Wednesday, May 13, 2015, at Broussard’s, 2000 McFaddin Avenue, Beaumont, with a gathering of her family and friends to follow. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 10:00 a.m., Thursday, May 14, 2015, at St. Anne Catholic Church, 2715 Calder Avenue, Beaumont, with her interment to follow at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Beaumont.

Memorial contributions may be made to Dominican Sisters of Houston, 6501 Almeda Road, Houston, Texas 77021; St. Anne Catholic School, 375 North 11th Street, Beaumont, Texas 77702; St. Anne Catholic Church, 2715 Calder Avenue, Beaumont, Texas 77702; or Monsignor Kelly Catholic High School, 5950 Kelly Drive, Beaumont, Texas 77707.