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Michael A. Ferrara, 98, train car inspector

Michael A. Ferrara was born in 1916 and grew up on Christian Street near Ninth, when South Philadelphia still had the flavor of its immigrant Italian families.

Michael A. Ferrara
Michael A. FerraraRead more

Michael A. Ferrara was born in 1916 and grew up on Christian Street near Ninth, when South Philadelphia still had the flavor of its immigrant Italian families.

"His father had a bakery in the house, an oven in the basement," Mr. Ferrara's daughter, JoAnn Ferrara Waity, said.

Mr. Ferrara's father produced bread and rolls, Waity said, "and with the dough my grandmother would make tomato pies."

When Mr. Ferrara was a child in the 1920s, she said, his Sicilian parents - Mariano and Josephine - delivered their baked goods house-to-house with a horse and wagon.

"Grandma gave away, all the time, bread to neighbors who couldn't afford it," Waity said. "That's why they went out of business."

On Saturday, May 23, Mr. Ferrara, 98, of Gloucester Township, who retired in 1976 as a train car inspector for the former Pennsylvania Railroad, died at home.

"There were a lot of little Italian bakeries" like his family's, when he was growing up, his daughter said.

One of them became Amoroso Baking Co., the Philadelphia producer of breads and rolls, Nancy Amoroso Ash said.

Mr. Ferrara and Dan Amoroso Sr., her father and a member of the ownership family, were born in the same year, related by marriage, and "very good friends," enough that Ash always called him "Uncle Mike."

The Ferraras and the Amorosos "always had family gatherings, large meals together," Ash said. "He loved to cook."

And outside the family, she said, Mr. Ferrara "knew no strangers."

Born in South Philadelphia, Mr. Ferrara attended the former Our Lady of Good Counsel School, in the Italian national parish that was closed in 1937.

Mr. Ferrara had dropped out of school when his family made an ill-fated effort at being farmers in South Jersey and had to return to South Philadelphia, his daughter said.

During World War II, Mr. Ferrara was a civilian truck driver at the Philadelphia Navy Yard.

"He used to deliver torpedoes" to the Navy submarine base in Groton, Conn., she said.

Mr. Ferrara began his 30-year career with the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1946, his son, Michael A. Jr., said.

"One of his last jobs was as a car inspector" in the suburban rail yards, "to make sure . . . the brakes were working for the morning rush hour."

When the family lived near Cobbs Creek Parkway, his daughter said, Mr. Ferrara grew tomatoes and roses. "Little Italian men always have to have a little garden," she said.

Besides his son and daughter, Mr. Ferrara is survived by 12 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. His wife, Anna, died in 1991. His companion, Felicia, died in 2010.

A viewing was set from 10 to 11 a.m. Friday, May 29, at St. Joan of Arc Church, 100 Willow Bend Rd., Marlton, before an 11 a.m. Funeral Mass there, with interment in SS. Peter and Paul Cemetery, Springfield, Delaware County.

Donations may be sent to http://aidforfriends.org.

Condolences may be offered to the family at www.bradleyfhmarlton.com.