Maria Helen DeMaggio Baptised in Meriden

Maria and Miki (Fera) DeMaggio, taken December, 2012
(Photo by Rod Wendt)

Do not be confused, dear reader, for today's Mother and Child are not the same as those featured just three days ago in this blog, though again, these two represent the melding of Romanian and Italian bloodlines.  Here is the story.

Today Roxana (Roxy) Fera and I drove to Meriden, New Hampshire to attend the baptism of her new niece, Maria.  Maria is the third child of Mihaela (Miki) Fera DeMaggio and her husband Gus.  Miki and Roxy grew up in Sibiu, Romania, where their parents always encouraged the girls to participate in sports, with the result that Miki became her country's foremost downhill and slalom skier.  Today, she and Gus are both ski coaches at Kimball Union Academy, a renowned private secondary school in Meriden.

Also attending the event were Miki's and Roxy's mother, Ileana Fera, and Gus's parents Gus Sr. and Helen DeMaggio, as well as Maria's siblings, Caiyu and Elena, and Gus's sisters and their offspring.

The baptismal service was held at the Meriden Congregational Church.  It was a lovely event on a bright and cloudless day, following immediately after the heaviest snowfall of the winter.  The world today was sparkling white.  Maria uttered not a peep throughout the service, and smiled broadly when presented by the minister to the parishioners, a newly Christened child of God.