Obituary

Claudia Ann DiPrinizo Abramowicz, aged 74 years, prayerful daughter of God, beloved wife, cherished mother, grandmother and aunt, peacefully concluded the span of her earthly life on Tuesday, August 2, 2022. After several difficult months of illness, she was able to spend her last days in her Mandeville home, under the loving care of her devoted spouse and children, who wish to thank St. Tammany Hospice for their invaluable assistance. Always drawn to the Blessed Virgin Mary, she is entrusted to the Queen of Peace to guide her to the bosom of her son, Jesus. Claudia Ann DiPrinizo was born August 5, 1947 in Steubenville, Ohio to the late Joseph "Pepper" and Mary (D'Andrea) DiPrinizo. After a gap of several years, she proudly welcomed a sister, Marybeth (DiPrinizo) Swartzmiller of Weirton, West Virginia. Hers was a happy childhood surrounded by a close-knit extended Italian-American family of many aunts, uncles and cousins among the DiPrinizo, D'Andrea and Angelo families of the steel-making Ohio Valley region. She attended Steubenville Catholic Central High and soon after graduation married her high-school sweetheart, Danny Abramowicz, and their bond strengthened over 56 years of trials, triumphs and travels, especially during the recent long dreamt-of journeys they undertook to places as distant as Medjugorje, Fatima, Lourdes, the Holy Land and the Vatican and as near as the Blue Ridge Mountains, the Badlands and the backroads of America. The newlyweds moved to New Orleans, Louisiana in 1967 to follow an NFL career and to start a family. Raising her three children, sons Daniel Joseph and Andrew Abramowicz and daughter Stephanie Abramowicz was Claudia's greatest joy. New Orleans became the soil where the family roots held most firmly and her life flourished, even more so after being joined there by her dear brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Joe and Terry Abramowicz. There would be relocations to Chicago, where she was able to help in the care of her grandchildren; to Memphis after the damage of Hurricane Katrina; and a return to Steubenville to answer the call of caring for her own aging father and father-in-law when they became frail, but New Orleans was most truly home. Claudia walked the path of friendship and discipleship with so many dear companions wherever she lived. While never comfortable with the attention of a crowd, she was gifted at developing close individual friendships. She was always able to delight those she met with her humor and win their deepest trust with her sincerity and care. She always gave thanks for the many priests and nuns whose example and counsel blessed her soul, and for the members of her prayer circles who were always there with love and support: from the Catholic Charismatic Renewal, the Monday Night Disciples (who she helped "mother" into existence from her crowded Metairie living room) and most recently, her fellow parishioners at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church. She will be sorely missed by her husband, Danny Abramowicz, sons DJ and Andrew, daughter Stephanie; sister, Marybeth Swartzmiller; daughter-in-law Marcella Abramowicz; brothers-in-law Roger Swartzmiller and Joe Abramowicz, sister-in-law Terry Abramowicz, grandsons Dillon, Johnathan and Anthony Hughes and Ward Abramowicz; nephews Joey Abramowicz, Jason and Jeremy Swartzmiller and niece Danielle Bohnet. All will remember the love and joy that shone forth in her words, her actions, her touch, her smile and of course, her cooking. A wake, funeral Mass and burial will all take place on Tuesday, August 9 at St Joseph's Abbey, 75376 River Road, Saint Benedict, LA. Visitation will be from 10:30-12:30 at the Abbey Retreat Center. Funeral Mass will take place in the Abbey Church at 1 pm, with burial afterwards at the Abbey Cemetery. An endowment in Claudia's name is being set up to support Youth Religious Education at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church in Mandeville, LA. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to make a gesture of remembrance consider a donation to the endowment at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church, 312 Lafitte St., Mandeville, LA 70448. E.J. Fielding Funeral Home has been entrusted with the arrangements. Please sign the E.J. Fielding Funeral Home online Guest Book at www.ejfieldingfh.com.