OBITUARY -- Carolyn Anna Sisto

   Carolyn Anna Sisto, Loving Wife, Mother & Grandmother, on September 7, 2011,  wife of the late Arthur Sisto, passed away quietly at her home at the age of 95. She was the daughter of Horace and Anna (nee Kopp) Alley and a lifelong resident of South Orange and Maplewood.
  Born on West End road in South Orange, she was the fourth of ten children. In 1917, infant Carolyn and her mother were invited to visit a neighbor, Bessie Pease Gutmann who was an artist. On that day, Mrs. Gutmann began sketching what became her would-renown painting of Carolyn titled "The Awakening". That work, paired with an earlier painting of one of the Gutmann children, titled, "A Little Bit of Heaven" were an international hit. "Within a few short years, most homes in the United States had the pair (of prints) hanging" in their homes. "The sales records (for these prints) have yet to be surpassed" (quoted from Bessie Pease Gutmann, her Life and Works, by Victor J. W. Christie, 1988).
  Mrs. Sisto is survived by her children, Carolyn A. Friedman, Doris and William Lustusky, Elizabeth and Henry Dircks and Arthur D. Sisto, Jr. She leaves her grandchildren; Dr. Jonathan D. Friedman, Sara Lustusky, Alexander Sisto and Elizabeth Dircks and her devoted niece and nephew, Barbara and Newton J. Burkett and also her caretaker and friend, Andrew Stanko. Mrs. Sisto is survived by her sister, Doris and Kenneth McCann and her sister-in-law, Jean Alley. From her husband's family she is survived by Florence Zdanowski, Gerald Sisto, William and Penny Sisto and Rose Clark. Mrs. Sisto leaves behind dozens of nieces and nephews from the Alley and Sisto families. Having come from a large family, she valued, above all things, her family and friends.
   Relatives and friends are invited to attend the Funeral Service on Wednesday, September 14, 2011 at 10 am from the Bradley Haeberle & Barth Funeral Home, 1100 Pine Ave, Union, NJ. Visitation Tuesday, 5 to 8 pm. Entombment Hollywood Memorial Park.
  In lieu of flowers, donations in Carolyn's name may be made to the American Red Cross, Summit Area Chapter, c/o Hurricane Irene Victims, 695 Springfield Ave, Summit, NJ 07901. To send the family a condolence, please visit www.bradleyfuneralhomes.com