Both of Sara’s parents were born in Sicily with her mother arriving in the United States at the age of 18 and her father when he was 28 years old. Mrs. Di Gregorio stayed home to raise her four children. Her husband worked at Jamestown Lounge Company until he was of retirement age.

“They were perfect,” says the 95-year-old woman. “I was lucky to have good parents.”

The little girl never had a doll as a child “and I loved dolls. Now I have a bunch of them and a Shirley Temple Doll. We were content though. We had a relationship with my grandma and my aunt and uncle.”

The extended family got together every Sunday.

A beautiful table with homemade treats awaits guests when visiting Sara Purpura. Photos by Beverly Kehe-Rowland

Her family had a cottage off Martin Road in Kiantone where her father raised a garden and grew grapes. Since her parents never owned a car, they walked to the garden on many summer days.

“Most of my summers were spent there. My mother gave my brother the package of food to carry and he wasn’t happy about the long walk.”

Her mother taught the children how to cook and bake.

“My mother was a very, very bright person. She would tell us beautiful stories and focused all her life on us children. She taught us manners and respect. She told me everything is possible. If there’s a will, there’s a way.”

Mrs. Di Gregorio learned to speak English by listening to her children read the “Weekly Readers” they brought home from school. Her husband did not learn the language.

Sara learned English at St. James School which she attended from first through seventh grade. She went to Jefferson Junior High for eighth and ninth grades before moving to Jamestown High School where her time was cut short. She took a job when she was 16 at the Worsted Mills and left school without ever looking back.

“I wasn’t interested in school. My life wasn’t in the history department or the math. Most of it bored me. I wanted to cook and dance,” she admits. “I’d rather dance than eat.”

She married Frank Scapelitte when she was 22 years old. They were married 24 years.

She later married James Purpura.

“I knew his family, but really got to know him through dancing. He told me he’d take me dancing three times a week if I married him and we danced up a storm,” she says with a grin.

They tore up the dance floor at all of the local VFWs and at the Moose Club and danced with the Chautauqua Squares and Italian Quadrille Dancers. The only time they took dance lessons was when they wanted to learn how to dance “The Hustle.” At that time, they did a demonstration of the dance at Chautauqua Mall with Guys and Dolls Dance Studio.

“People called them Fred and Ginger,” her cousin, Frances Bishop says.

“That’s what kept us involved with people,” Mrs. Purpura says.

When she was younger, she played bocce, bowled on a league at Satellite Lanes and golfed 18 summers. She is extremely proud of the hole-in-one she got while golfing at South Hills Golf Course in 1991. She has traveled to Puerto Rico and made two trips to Sicily with her sister where they found their cousins in a small village by showing the pictures of relatives.

She liked singers Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dean Martin and on the big screen, Clark Gable and Errol Flynn were her favorites. Even though she only saw one movie as a child, she still talks about a young actor who impressed her very much.

“When I was at St. James School I saw Freddie Bartholomew in Little Lord Fauntleroy.”

James Purpura retired from Carborundum Corp. His wife worked in the kitchen at Town Club on Pine Street and for several local bakeries. She iced cakes and did various jobs at Hedberg’s Bakery on North Main Street.

“Mr. Hedberg was a wonderful man. I loved him.”

Her boss, Bob, at Gold Star Market taught her how to decorate cakes.

“He was a blessed man and such a sweetheart.”

She did every aspect of cake baking during her five years at Quality Market in Chautauqua Mall.

“We opened the mall and we made a cake for Sears when they opened at the mall,” says the baker. “I baked the cakes, made the frosting and decorated the cakes.”

“My mother loved pretty things. She didn’t teach me to decorate but she influenced me.”

The elderly woman is still baking weekly and often posts pictures of the breads and desserts she has made. She is especially proud of the beautiful French macaroons she has learned to make from watching instructions on YouTube. She enjoys making roses from fondant and buttercream frosting.

Her mother lived with her for the last three years of her life. James passed away about five years ago after 39 years of marriage. She has dinner every week with one of her sons and goes out with her cousins about three times each week.

“She can shop for seven hours. I’m totally exhausted and she’s not ready to go home,” says Frances.

The nonagenarian “loves” the casino. She has been using the computer for about 10 years. She has a Facebook account, looks up recipes on YouTube and watches Netflix.

“My children help me with the computer. It opened up a world for me. I go to college,” she says. “If I didn’t have the internet, I wouldn’t be learning so much.”

All three of her sons live in Jamestown. Dan Scapelitte retired from teaching history at Randolph Central School, Frankie Scapelitte is a postal employee and Joseph Scapelitte is a counselor at Jamestown Counseling Center. She has three step-children. James Purpura lives in Jamestown, Jerry Purpura in Florida and Diana Mace in North Carolina.

She also has two sisters. Virginia Triscari resides in Orlando, Fla. Sister Rose Therese lives in Williamsville and has been a Franciscan nun for 71 years. Her brother Jerry DiGregorio is deceased.