Anna Marie Petty

Anna Marie Petty, n�, Musso, aka �Mama Mia,� 94, passed quietly on the evening of August 30, 2015. She was surrounded by her loving family. She is survived by her two sons Ryan and Mark; their wives Melissa and Marty; Ryan and Melissa�s children, Scott and Ashley; Mark and Marty�s children, Lindsay and John; two great grandchildren; and her brother Carl Musso.

She is predeceased by her husband John Michael Petty, with whom she celebrated 50 years of marriage. They met in Pueblo, Co., where John was teaching flight school in the Army Air Corps, after flying 50 bombing missions over Italy (Siciliy to Rome) from North Africa in B-17s. Within a year after the end of WWII, they relocated to John�s native Tulsa, OK and raised their sons.

For Mom, a first-generation Sicilian Catholic who grew up with an adobe oven in the back yard of her family�s farm in rural Vineland, Colorado, moving to the Bible belt in Tulsa was quite a change. She was a very resilient, resourceful woman. Her mother Rosalia, died in 1936 when Mom was 14 years old. She took on many household responsibilities at that time. A member of National Honor Society, she earned her associates degree at Pueblo Junior College instead of going to a four-year university because she was needed at home. In exchange for staying in Pueblo, her father, Joseph Musso, bought her a �turtle back� Model A Ford she nicknamed Gallopin� Gert. While in PJC she was a writer on the campus paper The Arrow.

Mom�s amazing feats include fly fishing with her father in the Colorado mountains in the 1930s, learning to waterski in Oklahoma behind a tiny aluminum boat as that sport began to grow across the nation in the early 1950s, marathon lasagna dinners, knitting countless caps for preemies at St. Francis Hospital and �honking her horn� for any wrong she wanted to right.

A consummate cook who owned countless cookbooks, she always relied on a pinch of this and a dash of that, plus some dill, which always seemed to be included. The only family recipes she sadly could never get from her beloved mother-in-law, Grandma Sade, were the recipes for Sade�s cherry pie and the spice mixture for her fried chicken. We are sad to this day. Fortunately Mom gladly shared her lasagna recipe. Though it was always wonderful, that recipe changed constantly.

The only time her sons traveled more than 100 miles per hour in a car was when Mom was at the wheel of the family�s 1960 Oldsmobile 88. She was obviously in a hurry to get to Carlsbad Caverns on family vacation.

Despite being a child of the Big Band era, she was a fan of the Grateful Dead and Eric Clapton. A tear would come to her eye when she listened to Janis Joplin sing Piece of My Heart. Her adoption of these musicians illustrates her enduring, open mind and willingness to entertain new ideas at important times in her life.

Mom dedicated more than 25 years at the Education Service Center at Tulsa Public Schools and she shared her husband John�s commitment to the Tulsa Public Library system. Together in retirement they committed time as literacy volunteers, teaching adults to read. They also found time to make deliveries for the Meals on Wheels program.

In Lieu of Flowers

Due to Mom and Dad�s commitment to volunteering, we ask that in lieu of flowers, donations be sent to the Tulsa Library Trust:

Katherine Silvey, Director of Development
918.398.6681
[email protected]

4oo Civic Center
Tulsa, OK 74103-3830

http://www.tulsalibrarytrust.org/

Mass

A mass will be said for Mom at
Most Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church,
8:00 p.m., September 30th
5800 15th Avenue South, Gulfport