Rita Rose

Nelson

Born to Rosario and Lucia Gambino on September 26, 1920 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rita Rose was the youngest of seven brothers and sisters: Agostino, Anna, Maria, Antonio, Melina, Rita, and Stephanio. She attended Catholic school in the predominately Italian sector of South Philadelphia, where the nuns taught curricula in Italian and English. At home only Italian was spoken. Her father, Rosario Gambino, was a native of Castroreale, a village situated on a mountain in Sicily accessible only by horse. He acquired the trade of blacksmith. His wife Lucia grew up in the town below, Villafranca di Tirrenia by the sea. Leaving behind their eldest son, Agostino, they immigrated to United States in 1906 and settled in Philadelphia, where the young couple opened a bread bakery.

Rosario made his own wine in the basement of their building. He sat at the head of the table, and beside his plate was a leather strap fashioned from a horse's phallus. Whenever one of the eight children misbehaved at the table, Rosario lashed out with his whip. Her father was a generous, soft-spoken man well liked in the community. As the youngest daughter, Rita Rose was his favorite child due in large part in the charm and warmth of her personality. When he delivered bread in his horse drawn wagon to the farmers in New Jersey often trading for vegetables, he always stopped to treat Rita Rose to the ice cream she loved.

In 1940 she and her childhood sweetheart married. Her spouse was also the product of the Italian community of South Philadelphia as his parents had immigrated in 1902 from Castel Luccio, Italy. At the time of their marriage, Gustavo Cosimo Falco was a machinist mate in the US Navy. He was an odd combination of a poet who saw nothing but dollar signs in his eyes. Strikingly handsome, he was the proverbial sailor who literally had a girl in every port. He was also a bigamist. Before abandoning Rita in to join his other wife in California, he absconded with all of the savings she accumulated working in the accounting department of the Navy Department. Their union produced her one and only child, Gustavo Anthony who is a singer, writer, and filmmaker living in Vienna, Austria.

Although Rita adored Gustavo, she never spoke of him or his actions with resentment. They divorced in 1948, and because of her divorce, she was not allowed to partake in the Holy Eucharist and sacramental rites of the Catholic Church until recently. She and her son lived alone in a small apartment. After working all day, she came home at night to read stores to him. For Christmas 1947 she and her brother Tony, bought Gustavo an American Flyer electric freight train set. Hence his enduring loves of literature and trains. After high school her son worked as a brakeman on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, and in 1973 he graduated from the University Of Arkansas with a BA degree in English.

When her boss at the Navy Department was replaced with a regular US Navy line officer, everyone warned the new head of the accounting offices was going to "crack the whip". USN Lt. Homer Horace "Knobby" Nelson was that new boss, and he promptly fell in love with Rita Rose. Not long after taking the post, H.H. Nelson retired after 20 years active duty, and returned to Clark County where he purchased the farm he had always dreamed of owning halfway between his hometown of Whelan Springs and Gurdon, Arkansas. Rita Rose and her 5-year-old son soon followed, and she became Mrs. H.H. Nelson.

When Rita came to Arkansas in 1949, there was not even a Catholic church in the county and only one other Italian family in town. Gurdon is a lumbering town and railroad terminal located in Clark County halfway between Little Rock and Texarkana. For the first few years there, Rita was socially ostracized for not only being a Yankee, but a fish-eating Catholic as well. All that changed once her son was enrolled in Gurdon public schools, and when she joined the local PTA (Parent Teachers Association) of which she eventually became president. She was also a long-standing member of ladies' civic clubs and became fully assimilated into the business and social life of the town enjoying many close and rewarding relationships. There is little doubt that Rita Rose was one of the most beautiful women in the county.

Rita and Knobby enjoyed a long and productive marriage. They opened H.H. Nelson Insurance Agency in an agricultural feed store on Front Street. Rita sewed new shirts for her son tailored out of livestock feed sacks. Soon they moved the business to Main Street where they flourished for decades. H.H. Nelson was nearly 30 years her senior, and when he passed away in 1975, Rita continued to operate the business as Rita R. Nelson Insurance & Real Estate Agency until her retirement when she sold out to Harold Campbell & Co. of Camden. Due to the high standard of customer service, Nelson Insurance Agency was the most patronized office of its kind in Gurdon. After serving the community for over 40 years, Rita always felt that Gurdon and its townspeople had treated her very well.

After her son graduated from college and moved to Memphis and Knobby had passed away, Rita lived alone again for a number of years operating her business. Her beloved companion was her Norwegian elkhound named Bear. They went everywhere together. Then upon the passing of his wife who was a Nelson family friend, another retired US Navy sailor and also a Missouri Pacific Railroad engineer, fell in love with Rita Rose. Concluding several years of courtship, they were married and moved from Gurdon to his house on Lake Hamilton in Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Rita was always fond of Italian proverbs she had learned from her mother such as "Those who live with the lame, learn to limp," "The strength of the young, and the wisdom of the old," "Never let the right hand know what the left hand is doing," "Love is like a pot that boils."

At 98 years of age, Rita R. Nelson is survived only by her son Gustavo A. Nelson, aka. Tav Falco of Vienna and by her husband Ralph Berdikoski of Hot Springs. She was deeply beloved by them both. Her son avows that everything he is today was made possible by his mother, and without her support and encouragement he would hardly be what he is now, nor have accomplished all that he has in his modest career. Rita R. Nelson was a shinning jewel who graced this earth and from which a practical, warm, intelligent, thoughtful, and loving soul has departed and will always be missed. Rest in peace, Rita Rose, forever knowing you lived a full and beautiful life.

Let us not weary our souls and waste our toil;

If we harvest in the richer soil

Of towering thoughts - where holy breezes blow,

And everlasting flowers in beauty smile -

No disappointment shall we know...

Sir John Bowring 1861

Join us in the celebrating the life of Rita R. Nelson 2:00pm October 4, 2018at St John's Church, Hot Springs, AR and Sunday 2:00pm October 7, 2018 at the Presbyterian Church of Gurdon where Billy Tarpley will deliver her eulogy under the direction of HERNDON-FUQUA FUNERAL HOME of Gurdon.