Theresa Socias, Lifelong Inwood Resident

By Amanda Mayo

Theresa J. Socias, a lifelong resident of Inwood, passed away on Monday, May 28. She was 96.

Theresa Socias. Photo courtesy of Anthony Socias.

Socias was born on October 27, 1915 in Inwood as one of eight children to parents who were Italian immigrants. She attended school up to the eighth grade at The Number Four School in Inwood, which now houses only a pre-kindergarten and kindergarten program. Her son, Anthony Socias, said she worked for a number of years in a dress factory, also in Inwood.

“Outside of maybe a year of her life, she lived at 154 Mott Avenue in Inwood,” Anthony said. “She was a seamstress for a number of years and then when she got married to my father she stayed home and took care of me as a housewife.” Theresa’s husband, Ralph, 88, is retired from the Town of Hempstead highway department.

Anthony said his mother put a lot of her time into her local Roman Catholic Church, Our Lady of Good Counsel in Inwood. “She went to church every day,” Anthony said. “Her whole life was devoted to her family and devoted to the church. She pretty much went to every wedding that was there.”

“She loved to cook. We always did Christmas Eve at my parents’ house and had the traditional Italian seafood dinner,” Anthony said, adding that the family did holidays at his parents’ house for a while, and then, for about the last 10 years, he did holidays at his house.

Anthony said his mother loved to cook, sew and tend to the garden. He said she was always sewing something – blankets, sweaters, potholders. He said she also liked to read, and she spoke Italian fluently. “She was a simple woman, content with what she had,” he said. “She was devoted to my father, devoted to me and my wife and kids. And she went to church every day.”

“She had a warm heart,” Anthony said. “She would give whatever she had to anyone who needed it.”

Theresa is survived by her husband, Ralph; her son, Anthony and his wife Catherine; and her grandchildren, Daniel and his wife Jaclyn, and Patrick.