Agnes Nigro, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, sister, and friend, passed away peacefully on October 10, 2024, at the age of ninety. Born in Bangor, Pennsylvania on August 25, 1934, to Ralph and Helen Correll, she cherished growing up in the state’s bucolic Slate Belt. Relishing all the small town had to offer, Agnes, very fittingly, played the bugle in the Bangor High School band. Soon after, a longstanding New Year’s Eve tradition was born with her midnight bugle serenades.

Upon graduating from high school, Agnes set out for New York City, learning the ropes at the New York Foundling in Manhattan. Despite her mother’s concerns, the country girl adjusted nicely to big city life. While working at the Foundling, Agnes met her future husband, Nicholas Nigro, a quintessential New Yorker, on a blind date. And the rest, as they say, is history. The couple were married on August 13, 1955, in Our Lady of Good Counsel church in Bangor and commenced a new life worlds apart in the Bronx, where their five children—Rosanne, Patrice, Joseph, Nicholas, and Thomas—were born and raised.

From the get-go, Agnes immersed herself in the Kingsbridge neighborhood goings-on and school and church happenings. She served as president of the St. John’s grammar school Mother’s Guild and was a regular chaperone on her kids’ school trips from Radio City Music Hall at Christmastime to the New York Botanical Garden to the Bronx Zoo.

At home, Agnes hosted everything from Tupperware-like parties to religious prayer groups with parish priests. She loved holiday decorating, preparations, and parties. Agnes colorfully celebrated historical events, too, like the Apollo 11 moon landing, by posting above the family’s front door a handmade banner that read: “Congratulations to Neil, Buzz, and Mike,” the mission’s three astronauts. Without fail, she threw birthday parties for her children and their friends. The welcome mat was always out.

Agnes also forged a twenty-five-year career as a nurse’s aide at the Fieldston Lodge Nursing Home in Riverdale. In later years, she served as a caregiver for various elderly neighbors, who appreciated her upbeat personality and positive outlook on life. Well into her eighties, Agnes attended local yoga classes.

By her own admission, Agnes was a sun worshipper, who relished her many summers on Cape Cod. When her children were very young, she cheerfully set up a pool in the concrete backyard and sunbathed around it like she was at the seashore. The Tibbett Avenue Swim Club endured for many years.

Agnes was forever grateful for the fine doctors and nurses at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital who treated her for decades. After her initial diagnosis with Multiple Myeloma, they—along with her roll with the punches attitude—supplied her with a life worth living.

Agnes is survived by her children Rosanne (Remy), Joseph (Martha), Nicholas, and Thomas; her grandchildren Remy (Angela), Nicholas, and Joseph; her great-grandchildren Remy and Nico; her brother Richard Correll and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by her husband, Nicholas, daughter, Patrice, sister, Diane Bentley, and parents, Ralph and Helen Correll.

Funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday, December 11 at 9:30 a.m. at St. Hugh of Lincoln Roman Catholic Church, 21 E 9th St, Huntington Station, NY 11746. Committal private.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation.