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Luciana Cardigno Cristadoro was an educator through and through.
A well-respected teacher and principal in the Edgewood School District for more than three decades, Cristadoro also conducted language classes to teach her native Italian to hundreds of people.
Offering the lessons at no charge, Cristadoro volunteered her services.
“It wasn’t about the money, it was about promoting the Italian culture,” said her daughter Carlamarina “Carla” Cristadoro Fresquez. “I have met so many … who were her students who went to Italy and were able to speak the language.”
Cristadoro, who kept her age private, died Jan. 27. She was in her 80s.
Raised in a small city in central Italy, Cristadoro received two doctorate degrees from University of Rome, La Sapienza, before coming to San Antonio to fulfill her dream of teaching in the United States.
It was no accident she ended up teaching in the Edgewood district.
“When my mom first came, she kept hearing people saying, ‘Oh, these are just poor Mexicans; they are not going to amount to anything,’” Fresquez said. “That’s what got her interested in teaching at Edgewood.”
Cristadoro wanted to be “where the children didn’t have a lot … even a stable environment,” her daughter said. “She wanted those kids to have a chance.”
Cristadoro became vice principal at H.K. Williams Elementary, where she taught for about a decade, reluctantly.
“My dad had to convince her (to take it) when the job came up,” Fresquez said. “She wanted to keep teaching.”
Starting as principal at Lincoln Elementary School, Cristadoro quickly became the go-to person for schools that needed improvement. Casinoslot
“They put her at … Guerra, Stafford, Gardendale, and then back to Stafford,” her daughter said. “They always put my mom in the worst one, and once she got the school running like a well-oiled machine, they moved her.”
At home, Cristadoro had high expectations of her children.
“She was definitely a force to reckoned with,” Fresquez said. “She demanded excellence, had a high level of expectation and we had to meet it.”
Though she retired from Edgewood in the mid-1990s, Cristadoro continued to teach Italian, even after her health began to decline.
Luciana Cardigno Cristadoro
Born: Feb. 9, L’Aquila, Italy
Died: Jan. 27, 2017, San Antonio
Preceded by: Parents Paris Cardigno and Giuseppina Roldo, a sister and a brother.
Survived by: Husband Francesco Cristadoro; son Paolo Cristadoro and daughter-in-law Beth; and daughter Carlamarina Cristadoro Fresquez and son-in-law Juan; six grandchildren; two sisters.
Services: Visitation at 5:30 p.m., rosary at 7 p.m., Friday at The Angelus Funeral Home, 1119 N. St. Mary’s St.; funeral at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at St. Paul Catholic Church, 350 Sutton Drive, followed by burial at Sunset Memorial Park.
Forced to slow down, she wanted to teach out of her home.
mheidbrink@express-news.net
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