"Nana" Mary Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere

(1899 - 2008)

"Love and peace are the two most important things." January 28, 2002 at the UN reception.

Mary is the only person I know whose life spanned eleven decades and lived in three centuries. Born in September 8, 1899, she was 108 years old when she died on January 15, 2008 in New York City. Mary was an inspiration to anyone who met her, and yes....that is her handprint at the center of the World Mandala Monument.

Mary Beatrice Mirabito Livornese Cavaliere was born in the USA in September of 1899. Her parents were citizens of a volcanic island called Stromboli in the province of Messina, near the great island of Sicily in southern Italy. Mary was the second oldest child of twelve sisters and one brother. The Mirabito family lived in Brooklyn, New York amid an ethnic milieu including Irish, Russian and Germans immigrants.

Her responsibilities were many within the household and extended into the community. At a young age Mary remembers being appalled that "Negro servants lived in neighbor's backyards in flimsy shacks." Mary was raised in a traditional Italian household, and spoke Italian at home. She was exposed to great music and opera, attending cultural and historic events with her father. The Mirabito household was a lively place with many children. Often there would be an interesting mix of visiting relatives, musicians and Catholic clergy.

Mary married John Livornese and eventually moved to Lynbrook, Long Island. Mary and John raised Tom and Maria both of whom graduated through the Columbia University and Barnard College systems. Through her children Mary had further associations with culture through their children's college friends which included Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and other poets and writers. Kerouac wrote On the Road while occasionally living in Mary's Lynbrook basement. Following her second husbands death, she continued to live alone in Lynbrook until an accident forced her to leave her home at age 100. Her three grandchildren are all involved with the arts and are engaged in cultural and creative professions. Two of her grandsons, John Halpern and Alex Halpern are filmmakers. Mary is the star of Alex Halpern's documentary Nine Good Teeth about Mary's amazing life.

Her commitment to helping artist Neil Tetkowski complete The Common Ground World Project at The United Nations came from her belief that all people are sisters and brothers regardless of race or religious belief. In 2002, when Mary was interviewed by U.N. TV journalist, Ingrid Kaspar, Mary responded saying:

"We create peace by believing in peace and then making it work in our lives, day by day". Her wish for world peace is deep and sincere. Therefore, it is her privilege to support any activity with a motivation to benefit all.

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