Woman Searching For Late East Haven Grandmother's Antique Vanity

East Haven CT

08 February, 2021

4:55 PM

Description

EAST HAVEN, CT - The memories are deeply etched from those days on Deerfield Street many decades ago. Her grandmother sitting on the bench in front of her three-mirrored vanity, telling stories as she brushed her young granddaughter's hair, a rotary phone also on the vanity, the one her grandmother let her dial. Missy Bodzenski Cangioli recalls those days visiting her grandparents, Raffaele "Ralph" DeMichele and Jennie DeMichelle in East Haven. "You sit down in front of the vanity and you feel like a queen with the real queen next to you. I can feel her touch, smell the wood of the vanity, it all invokes such a good feeling," Cangioli told Patch, "That for so many years I've thought about it and I'm hoping," though it's a "long shot," she admits, that the vanity is in someone's home and maybe, she'll be able to find it and, if not buy it, get some photos, or "anything; it just means that much." She thought it was a hundred-to-one shot but Cangioli, who lives in Pittsburgh, PA decided to take to a popular Facebook community page and see what she could find out about the vanity. Her grandmother died in 2006 and her grandfather in 2009. But before he passed away, family members helped to organize his affairs as he was in a care facility, and the furniture that long lived on Deerfield Street was sold or given away, and Cangioli's uncle recalls perhaps the surname of the person who took the vanity and it may be a person he worked with or, a person who's long since moved out of the country, but Cangioli figured it was worth taking the chance. She provided names and approximate dates when the vanity would have been removed from the house. And, she describes it in great detail: "A very massive, heavy wooden vanity, with 3 large mirrors and a wide sitting bench that you push under it, and drawers on each side. It had a small, circular part on the top of it for holding jewelry or other items." Her memories are from nearly 40 years ago. Here's her full post on The Good Things About East Haven Facebook page: "Hello to the good people of East Haven! I hope you are well. My name is Missy and I'm going to take the longest long shot ever in the history of long shots here, all I can do is try, right? My grandparents were residents of East Haven for many years and lived on Deerfield Street. Back sometime around 2006-7, my grandmother passed away.My grandmother had a very massive, heavy wooden vanity, with 3 large mirrors and a wide sitting bench that you push under it, and drawers on each side. It had a small, circular part in the top of it for holding jewelry or other items.I have tried to find a picture to attach to this post, but I have not been able to find one.Here's where I need a miracle!I'm trying to find it. I have been trying for many, many years and I thought maybe to attempt to try here. I have a few pieces of information that I can give, without giving the privacy up of someone else. I just don't feel that's right, unless there could be a potential lead! Respect is everything.It was picked up on Deerfield St. (06/07ish)I know the (full) names of the people that went to pick it up, but no other information.W. Burt/Bert S. Burt/BertIf this is you reading this, and you remember picking up a massive, beautiful vanity,Or you know/are familiar with these people, please inbox me or pass along this message.If the vanity is still around, regardless of the state of condition, I have an offer to make.I have so many memories connected to it & I'd give anything to see it again. Even if it's in just a picture. Thank you so very much, from the little girl who only felt beautiful looking into those mirrors, with her Grandma by her side." And she has several other clues as folks comment on the Facebook post. (Good luck, Missy. You never know, right?)