It is with deep sorrow that we announce the passing of Francesca Granata. She departed us to her heavenly home peacefully at age 85 on September 4th, 2025 surrounded by her loved ones.

Born August 18th, 1940 to Giuseppe and Lucia Marchiafava in Alia, Palermo, Sicily, Francesca grew up in a small, sunny, mountain town with her 5 siblings, Lucio, Emilia, Louie, Samuel, and Joseph. Immigrating to the U.S. in 1957 on the Christopher Columbus with her family, Francesca went on to become a successful seamstress and helped provide for her family by doing something she loved. From across the entire Atlantic Ocean, her and her betrothed kept up their blooming love story for 5 years through countless love letters.

Francesca and Giuseppe Granata married and devoted their lives to each other on July 5th, 1962. Over the course of the next 64 years, she nourished and treasured her husband, 4 children, and 10 grandchildren.

She helped tend to their 8-acre farm filled with bunnies, sheep, chickens, apples, cherries, tomatoes, zucchinis, and a whole plethora of goods that could fill a cornucopia. Francesca’s hands were a physical symbol of her deep benevolence and affection for those around her from the weekly Sunday dinner spreads to the hundreds of intricate wedding dresses that she created. She was a master tailor, leaving threads of love in each garment she fabricated through her small business- Francesca’s Fitting Room.

Francesca was a doting wife, nurturing mother, adoring nonna, and matriarch of our family. Her traditions, recipes, and stories will be passed down for decades to come. We will miss crushing up summer tomatoes for sauce, jarring string beans, and crowding up her kitchen to help her cook (and steal a taste). Her infectious smile and laugh brightened up each room and made it hard to not laugh along with her.

Francesca is remembered and deeply missed by her children, Anthony, Concetta (Redouane), Lucia (Joseph), and Joseph(Adeline) along with her grandchildren Francesca, Amelia, Aïcha, Veronica, Laila, Joseph, Anthony, Michael, Carmine, and Damiana.

Visitation hours will be on Tuesday, September 9th 2025 from 4:00PM to 8:00pm at the Cochran Funeral Home, 905 High Street, Hackettstown, NJ, 07840. A Mass of Catholic Burial will take place on Wednesday, September 10th at Our Lady of the Mountain, Schooley’s Mtn. Road, Schooley’s Mtn., NJ beginning at 10:30AM. Entombment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover, NJ. Online condolences may be offered to the family at www.cochranfuneral.com.