Homicide Victim's Family Takes Stroll Down 'Memory Lane'

As they gathered around a kitchen table on a recent rainy night, the family of Antoinette Venditti Bruce talked about the vital, laughing woman they remember with great love.

Anna Albe, her only sibling, called the group together to share their stories. Joining her were Antoinette’s husband, Christopher Bruce; Anna’s husband, Thomas; their cousin, Maria Esposito; and their dear friends Maria Cenicola and Chris Palmieri.

They started slowly, sorting through the memories, then gained speed as they began to laugh over the silly things that bring a family together in times of trial.

“My sister and I did everything together,” Anna said. “She was like a mom to me in so many ways.”

Antoinette, born in East Haven in 1976, was four years older than her baby sister. She was the first of her immediate family to be born in the United States. Her parents, Domenico and Elizabeth Venditti, and her grandparents, Antonio and Michelina Venditti and Tomasso and Antoinette Martone, along with other family members, had all immigrated to the area in the 1970’s from small farming communities in central Italy.

Antoinette became Anna’s guide and mentor as she grew up.

“Our parents raised us to be sheltered little girls,” Anna recalled. “But Antoinette was so full of life. She wanted to try everything. She loved to dance, to go to concerts, to drive her Honda, to ride Harleys – to laugh at everything.”

But the most important thing in Antoinette’s life was family. With a close-knit group of aunts, uncles and cousins, the Venditti girls swam in local pools, went to the beach, rode bikes, and enjoyed life in East Haven.

“Antoinette was outspoken and told you how she felt whether you wanted to hear it or not,” said friend Maria Cenicola. “She was the one who kept the cousins in line and people went to her for advice. She inspired people, not just her generation but our kids, too.”

Her brother-in-law, Thomas Albe, said, “She loved kids. She was devoted to our son, Trevor, and to her nephews, Joshua and Shaun Bruce, and her niece, Cheyenne Riccio. She was also the first one to offer help if someone needed it.”

All of them agreed that Antoinette had been the mainstay of the family when it came to assisting.

“If someone was in the hospital, she was the first one there to visit. If someone was sick, she was there to do whatever was needed, even in the middle of the night,” her husband, Christopher, recalled. “And she took such good care of me. She was an excellent cook and, boy, she loved to clean house. She kept me organized.”

They met at her sister’s wedding and married in October, 2008. Years earlier, she graduated from East Haven High School, then attended Branford Hall, studying to be a medical assistant. However, when she completed the course, she moved to North Carolina for a few years, before returning to East Haven in 2002.

“When she came back, she decided she was going to see and do things she hadn’t been able to when she was younger,” Anna said. “She really wanted to go to Disney World – but she never got there.”

She did, however, jump back into family life. She acquired a couple of tattoos; attended NASCAR races with Chris and a family friend who competed; ate crab legs at Red Lobster; and talked on the phone.

Everyone laughed as they recalled her passion for both cleaning and talking. “She was always talking. If she wasn’t talking in person, she was on the phone. When she left a room, it became very quiet,” said Chris Palmieri, who shared godparent honors with Antoinette for baby Trevor Albe.

Unspoken by all at the table was the thought that they’d never talk with her again. On the night of March 29, 2011, she was killed in Middletown, RI, in the parking lot of the Residence Inn. She had gone there for two weeks to help establish a new Christmas Tree Shop for her company. She was the back room supervisor for the Christmas Tree Shop in Orange, CT.

A former employee of the store who had recently been terminated has been charged with murder by police in Middletown, RI.

“Her life was taken too soon. The future was stolen from her and we’re all lost without her,” said her cousin, Maria Esposito. Everyone at the table nodded as she summarized their feelings with those words.

However, they have come up with a way to remember Antoinette and share her with the community. They are planning an annual bike ride to some of her favorite places. The first ride is scheduled for Sunday, May 29, at 2 p.m.

“It’s a ride down ‘Memory Lane’ for us,” Anna said. “It starts at the CT Women Club House, 222 Elm St. We’ll ride down North High Street past her home and continue out to Lighthouse Point Park where we used to spend time. Then we’ll come back past her family’s home on Laurel Street and end up where we started at the Club House. There will be lots of food with prizes and raffles. So, if people just want to buy a ticket for the event and stay at the Club House, they don’t have to ride.”

The tickets are $20 for the afternoon and proceeds go to benefit a trust fund set up for Antoinette’s niece and nephews. The family promises that it will be fun, like all the events involving the many relatives of Antoinette Venditti Bruce. In their minds, having fun is the best possible memorial for her vibrant life.