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11 12</head> 13 14<body> 15 <nav> 16 <ul class="navigator"> 17 <li><a href="index.html">Home</a></li> 18 <li><a href="main.html">Story</a></li> 19 <li class="dropdown"> 20 <a href="javascript:void(0)" class="dropbtn">Profiles</a> 21 <div class="dropdown-content"> 22 <a href="celia-quarantiello.html">Celia Quarantiello</a> 23 <a href="alex-green.html">Alex Green</a> 24 </div> 25 </li> 26 <li><a href="https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/e42b5e9a76dc41279e780fbe958d95ab">Massachusetts Institutions</a></li> 27 <li><a href="about.html">About</a></li> 28 </ul> 29 </nav> 30 <header> 31 <div class="cover-pic" id="main-story-cover-pic"> 32 <div class="header-text-container"> 33 <h1>Cecilia Quarantiello</h1> 34 <p class="subhead"></p> 35 <p class="byline"></p> 36 </div> 37 </div> 38 39 </header> 40 41 <main> 42 <section> 43 <p class="content"> 44 It was a bleak morning in January of 1973 when a small group of people carried Cecilia Quarantielloâs wooden casket down a muddy trail in the woods of Waltham. Gray clouds rumbled above, releasing torrents of water as the wind whipped through the trees and mud squelched beneath shoes.</br></br> 45 Cecilia, otherwise known as Celia, spent her entire life in the Walter E. Fernald Developmental Center, the oldest state-run institution in the United States for the intellectually and developmentally disabled. She suffered from scoliosis and hemiplegia, a type of cerebral palsy that affects muscle movement and paralyzes one half of the body. She spent almost two decades confined to a crib before she passed away at the age of 20. She never grew to be larger than a small child in size.</br></br> 46 âIt was awful. It was a really bad day,â remembers Cathy Quarantiello, Celiaâs younger sister, with sadness. The 65-year-old, who was 18 at the time of Celiaâs passing, vividly remembers the day her sister was buried. âIt was terrible. She got a raw deal.â</br></br> 47 Celia was laid to rest in the MetFern Cemetery, a burial ground shared by the Fernald School and the Metropolitan State Hospital, an adjacent mental institution. Between 1947 and 1979, they buried 298 of their patients in a wooded lot less than an acre square under unnamed graves marked only by a letter (âCâ or âPâ for Catholic or Protestant) and a number. Over time, these grave markers have sunken into the ground and deteriorated from the elements.</br></br> 48 Celia, marked as Catholic and death number 152, is one of only three other patients whose higher quality stones exhibit a name, birth and death date. However, the grass in the cemetery grows over her gravestone and her name is misspelled. It reads âCilia Quarantillo.â</br></br> 49 </p> 50 51 <div class="image-slideshow-container"> 52 <div class="image-slides"> 53 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/fernald-and-medfield/ceai.jpg" alt="Celia's grave stone in the MetFern Cemetery."> 54 </div> 55 56 <!--image text--> 57 <div class="caption-container"> 58 <p class="main-story-caption">Celia's gravestone in the MetFern Cemetery.</p> 59 </div> 60 </div> 61 62 <p class="content"> 63 âIt really just got under my skin that there was a cousin of mine who had grown up in this place for 20 years, and they never corrected her gravestone,â says Doreen Quarantiello, Celiaâs cousin. The 64-year-old California native, who had grown up hearing stories about a cousin who was hospitalized for a physical disability, only really found out the truth about Celia in 2016. âI really want to make it right, and I really wish she had a better headstone.â </br></br> 64 65 Celia was born in 1952 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, to Maria Katherine Pace and Joseph William Quarantiello. Her mother had immigrated from Calabria, Italy, to Boston in 1946 at the age of 18. Celiaâs disabilities were a result of Maria being beaten and abused by her husband while pregnant, according to Cathy. Unable to care for her daughterâs disabilities, Maria placed her in the Fernald School, a state-run and funded institution, at the age of 2. While Celia was there, her mother had two other children: Cathy in 1954 and Joseph Jr., fondly referred to as Joe or Joey, in 1957. Her husband left the family shortly after Joeâs birth. </br></br> 66 67 Maria visited Celia every Sunday and brought along Cathy and Joe once they were old enough. Even though the institution had a rule forbidding children under the age 12 from entering the institution, there were no staff members to enforce it and so Celiaâs siblings started visiting her at a younger age.</br></br> 68 69 </p> 70 71 <div class="image-slideshow-container"> 72 <div class="image-slides"> 73 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/profile1/joe-cathy.jpg" alt="Joe and Cathy"> 74 </div> 75 76 <!--image text--> 77 <div class="caption-container"> 78 <p class="main-story-caption">10-year-old Cathy and 6-year-old Joe in 1965. Photo courtesy of Joseph Quarantiello.</p> 79 </div> 80 </div> 81 82 <p class="content"> 83 The grounds of the Fernald School were beautiful and well curated at the time. The entrance to the institution was framed by rows upon rows of vegetable gardens. Adjacent to Celiaâs building was a park with a cheerful swing set where Joe and Cathy would play while their mother visited their sister.</br></br> 84 85 Although Celiaâs siblings were eager to see her, the conditions within the institution unsettled them. Celia was housed on the second floor of a large brick building in a room filled with more than 30 other patients. </br></br> 86
87 âWhen you walked in, it always smelled. Always. It was terrible. It was the type of smell of mildew and dirt and you could tell it wasnât clean,â remembers Joseph William Quarantiello, 62, Celiaâs younger brother by five years. âYou would look down and the floors were always dirty...there would be things thrown into corners, like dirty blankets.â</br></br> 88 A mustard-yellow hallway led visitors to the large room where Celia was kept in a white crib. Lined up against the walls were dozens of open cots where patients of all ages who suffered from various afflictions were kept and mostly neglected, remembers Joe. Oftentimes, young children were left unsupervised, free to roam the floor and draw on walls with crayons. There was hardly any staff around to care for them.</br></br> 89 90 âTo be honest, I didnât want to stay too long. I was just a kid, the place was very depressing. It was almost like an orphanage,â says Joe from his home in Saint Claireâs, Ohio. âIt wasn't like a hospital where you actually had people taking care of [the patients], you hardly ever saw anybody. It was awful.â</br></br> 91 92 </p> 93 94 <div class="image-slideshow-container"> 95 <div class="image-slides"> 96 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/profile1/joe-little.jpg" alt="five-year-old Joe"> 97 </div> 98 99 <!--image text--> 100 <div class="caption-container"> 101 <p class="main-story-caption">Five-year-old Joe. Photo courtesy of Joseph Quarantiello.</p> 102 </div> 103 </div> 104 105 <p class="content"> 106 In the nearly 20 years she was interned at the Fernald School, Celia remained in the same room, the same spot and in the same crib. She wore diapers and ate baby food until her passing. Sometimes she went days without having her diaper changed, and her mother would have to track down a nurse or clean her herself. </br></br> 107 108 Nonetheless, there were happy times. Celia, with her dark curly hair and dark eyes, was a happy child. She smiled and she laughed. Her family spent their time talking to her, showing her pictures and reading her books. On the days that it was warm and sunny, they brought her outside for fresh air and to play jacks. Because of her bodily paralysis, Celia would have to be tied to a wheelchair for these outings. </br></br> 109 110 âAs soon as me and my mother would walk in she would pound her heart and smile. She would pound her heart and laugh. She had a big laugh,â remembers Cathy from her home in Salem. </br></br> 111 112 </p> 113 <p class="content"> 114 Although Celia could not speak nor walk, her siblings believe that she loved her family and looked forward to their visitations. </br></br> 115 116 âI remember I was talking to her, to just let her know I was there, and I put my hand down and she grabbed my pinky finger and she held [on],â recalls Joe, who was around 12-years-old at the time and Celia, 17. âThat was something I'll never forget. At the time it made me feel good, but now that I think about it, it makes me sad that she never got to live her life.â </br></br> 117 118 Once the Sunday visitations were over however, Celia wasnât talked about in the family. There were no discussions about the conditions she lived in, and Joe and Cathy were not allowed to tell their friends and neighbors about their sister and their weekly visits. </br></br> 119 120 âMy mother was old school. She felt shame, that no one should know your business. She felt ashamed, I think, because she let the idiot [her husband] into her life,â says Cathy, who believes her mother blamed herself for Celia's disabilities.</br></br> 121 122 </p> 123 124 <div class="image-slideshow-container"> 125 <div class="image-slides"> 126 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/profile1/celia-baby.jpg" alt="five-year-old Joe"> 127 </div> 128 129 <!--image text--> 130 <div class="caption-container"> 131 <p class="main-story-caption">Two-year-old Celia. This picture was taken shortly before she was interned at the Fernald School. Photo courtesy of Joseph Quarantiello.</p> 132 </div> 133 </div> 134 135 </p> 136 137 <div> 138 <img> 139 </div> 140 <p class="content"> 141 142 Celiaâs father, Joseph Quarantiello, was Doreenâs uncle. Growing up, she had heard rumors of a cousin in Boston who was hospital
142ized for supposedly having hydrocephalus, a build-up of water in the brain. It was only in 2016 when she uncovered the truth. For years, Doreen had been using Ancestry.com in efforts to locate her grandmotherâs side of the family in Italy. Her grandmother, Celia Quarantiello, had been born in 1892 in a small town called Airola, located an hour north of Naples.</br></br> 143 144 During her research, Doreen kept coming across someone with her grandmotherâs same name who was born in 1952. Though she initially passed it off as a clerical error, she decided to investigate. The other Celia had lived in Waltham and had spent her life in a state institution for people with disabilities. Thatâs when it clicked ââ this Celia was the cousin she had heard about.</br></br> 145 Through research and obtaining death certificates, Doreen not only discovered that Celiaâs conditions were actually far more serious than she had originally thought, but that they had come about because of Doreenâs uncle.</br></br> 146 âIt was horrible to find this out... I never knew anything about her, I didnât even know her name,â says Doreen from her home in Murrieta, California. âI didnât even know she lived her whole life in an institution.â </br></br> 147 148 <div> 149 <blockquote class="ricoh-theta-spherical-image threesixty-image"> 150 Post from RICOH THETA. -
151 <a href="https://theta360.com/s/cGMURo9F74nzeLtV3TdkwPZtA" target="_blank">Spherical Image - RICOH THETA</a> 152 </blockquote> 153
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153 154 </div> 155 <div class="caption-container" id="juxtapose-caption"> 156 <p class="main-story-caption"> Clik and drag your mouse around on the image for a full 360-degree view of the Fernald campus.</p> 157 </div> 158 159 <p class="content"> 160 Doreen believes she was told about the hydrocephalus because it was an easier explanation for the reality. After this discovery, Doreen got into contact with Joe and Cathy to learn more about her cousin from their memories. </br></br> 161 Celiaâs siblings werenât the only family members who accompanied their mother to the Fernald School every Sunday. Her uncle, Mariaâs brother, occasionally drove them out to Waltham when the family was living in East Boston and did not have a car. Then in 1964, Maria married a man named Carl Jones, who adopted Cathy and Joe. He tried to adopt Celia as well, but she was required to be present in court ââ this is why she remained a Quarantiello. The family moved to Peabody in 1967, and Carl took over as designated driver. He accompanied the family to visit Celia on Sundays and was also present at her funeral, alongside Maria and Cathy. Joe, only 15, was made to stay behind to take care of his younger step-brother and sister.</br></br> 162 163 </p> 164 <!-- image gallery --> 165 <div id="joe-cathy-image-container" class="image-slideshow-container"> 166 <div class="image-slides-celia"> 167 <div class="numbertext"> 1/2</div> 168 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/profile1/joe.jpg" alt="Joe today. Photo courtesy of Joseph Quarantiello."> 169 </div> 170 <div class="image-slides-celia"> 171 <div class="numbertext"> 2/2</div> 172 <img class="image-img" src="./src/assets/img/profile1/cathy.jpg" alt="Cathy today. Photo courtesy of Joseph Quarantiello."> 173 </div> 174 175 <!--next and previous buttons--> 176 <a class="prev" onclick="plusSlides(-1, 0)">❮</a> 177 <a class="next" onclick="plusSlides(1, 0)">❯</a> 178 179 <!--image text--> 180 <div class="caption-container"> 181 <p class="main-story-caption" id="image-slides-celia-caption"></p> 182 </div> 183 </div> 184 185 <p class="content"> 186 After Celiaâs death, Maria refused to talk about her daughter, even when Doreen reached out for information in recent years. She wanted the past to stay in the past, says Cathy. Maria died in 2017 at the age of 88 and Carl passed away a year later, in 2018, after 53 years of marriage.</br></br> 187 The last time the family saw Celia, she was sick with what a nurse said was pneumonia. Their weekly Sunday visit was cut short so Celia could rest. As they were leaving the building, Cathy remembers her mother turning toward her and saying âshe doesnât look good, I donât think sheâs going to make it.â Five days later, on Jan. 19, 1973, Celia passed away at the age of 20. According to Joe, she looked 3-years-old.</br></br> 188 Her death certificate determined that she suffered from bronchopneumonia with septic shock, a wide-spread infection that causes organ failure and extremely low blood pressure. Celia was buried in the MetFern Cemetery on Jan. 24. Due to her size, her small, wooden casket was carried instead of driven to the cemetery. âThey basically just dug a grave and put her in. I was bitter,â says Cathy. </br></br> 189 It has been 47 years since Celiaâs passing, but her siblings still remember her with love. Joe, who has never visited MetFern Cemetery, is making plans to come to Boston to visit Celiaâs grave within the next year. There are days where Joe and Cathy will call each other and share their memories of her and of the institution. While these memories are tinged with sadness, Joe and Cathy are buoyed by their love for their sister and comforted by the fact that they were able to provide her with a measure of happiness during her short life. </br></br> 190 âIt would have been worse for her if she could walk and talk. This way she was just lying in the bed,â says Cathy. âShe was happy as far as the hand she was dealt.â</br></br> 191 192 </p> 193 194 </section> 195 196 </main> 197 198 <footer> 199 </footer> 200 201 202
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