Connie Coniglio Miller ~ Page 2

 

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Connie at 309 Myrtle Avenue, about 1930

Connie at 309 Myrtle Avenue, Palm Sunday, 1943, holding palms woven by Gaetano.  In the background is the box- makers plant, F.N. Burts.

Connie at 309 Myrtle Avenue, about 1944

Mary, Connie
and Millie ~ 1946

 

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Jackie Miller and Dennis Denisco ~ 1952

                                                                           John Knight                   Steve Steht
                                 Matt , Connie, Angelo, Roseann, Jackie, Ben, Shelly
          Angie with Max, Angela, Tara                                 mmm              Sam Beagle
                                                   Danville, Illinois ~ 1977

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Tara Steht and  Ben Knight
1977

Ben ~ 1977

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Ben Knight and Tara Steht ~ 1977

Shirley and Roseann Miller

Shirley Miller

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Who will care

This article was written about Connie in the Danville newspaper, in about 1989.

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Jordan Knight

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Nicholas and Adam Steht
Clint, Morgan and Tara Wright
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Alessi Miller ~ 2004 Kylie Miller ~ 2004 Gianna Knight ~ 2005

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Savannah Miller ~ 2005 Donaven Anthony Wilson-Miller
~ 2005 ~

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Danville Ice Groupies ~ 2005

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Raven ~ 2005 Keith ~ 2005 Andy ~ 1963

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Aiden Steht

.~ September 2006 ~

~ December 2006 ~

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Marianne, Zander and Nicholas ~ June 2009

Marianne and Zander

puccidati

A COOKIE BY ANY OTHER NAME

       At Christmastime, my mother kept the old Sicilian tradition of baking special cookies, and now my sisters Connie and her children continue it, as do the children of Connie's twin, my late beloved sister Mary. My favorite 'cookie' was, and still is, the Sicilian fig cookie.

       Not to be confused with the ‘Mericanu’ ‘fig newton‘, which is no more than a swipe of fig paste in a tasteless crust, my mother’s fig cookie was a delicate, tasty shell wrapped around a sweet mixture of ground figs, walnuts, dates, raisins, citron, and other delicacies. And it was all topped with a sugary frosting and colored sprinkles.

       Now, you know what I’m talking about, but what did you call them? There are as many names for this confection as there are dialects of the Sicilian language.  Many call them cuccidati (coo-chee-DAH-tee), which could be interpreted as ‘cooked dates’ or ‘date cookies’; some say nucedati (noo-che-DAH-tee), which might mean ‘nuts and dates’. I have heard them called uccidati (ooh-chee-DAH-tee), zuccidati (zoo-chee-DAH-tee), puccidati (pooh-chee-DAH-tee) and even purciddati (poor-chee-DDAH-tee), which sounds like ‘pig dates’!

       An on-line reference says they’re bruccedati (brew-che-DAH-tee), because some (my favorite kind) were made in a large ring shape, and ’bruccedati’ means ‘little bracelets’.

       But to me, they’re what my mother used to call them: purciddati
. She always made a few of the big, ring-shaped ones and kept them aside for me, her ‘baby’. Then my late sister Mary, still spoiling the (70-year-old) baby brother, would make a few just for me. Now Connie, even though she's living in Illinois, is not too far away to spoil me!  I don’t know what purciddati really means, if anything. But to me, it means one thing: delicious! ~ Ange Coniglio

 

Rosa Coniglio’s Recipe: Sicilian Fig Cookies
 (Purciddati)

[as interpreted by the “Twins”, Mary Coniglio Denisco Sowa and Connie Coniglio Miller]
Makes 12 dozen cookies.
 

Filling: 3 lb. dried figs 1 lb. dates (pitted)
  1 lb. raisins 1 lb. shelled walnuts
  1 cup sugar 2 tsp. ground black pepper
  3 tbsp. orange extract, or orange zest, or rind of one orange, toasted and ground.
  Water, as below.  
           Grind all ingredients together in food grinder. Then warm filling over low heat, adding water until mixture is pliable.
Dough: 21/2 lb. (10 cups) flour 2 cups sugar
  2 cups shortening 1 stick (1/4 lb.) margarine
  4 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. baking soda
  11/2 tsp. salt 5 large eggs
  1 tbsp. vanilla extract 2/3 cup buttermilk
  (To make buttermilk, stir 1 tbsp. white vinegar into 2/3 cup whole milk.)
 

         Cut shortening and margarine into flour. Add sugar and other dry ingredients. Beat eggs with vanilla extract and buttermilk and to flour mixture.

          Mix by hand and shape: roll dough by hand into “snakes” about 16” long, 1 inch in diameter. With rolling pin, flatten snake to form strips about 3” wide and 1/8” thick. Place filling along center of strip. Fold one long edge of dough over filling, and roll once more to form a long, filled tube. Cut tube on a slant to make cookies about 11/2” long. Some can be cut about 8” long and the tube is curled in a circle to make a “bracelet".

Bake:  on a greased cookie tin, at 350o till lightly browned.
(10-15 minutes)
Icing: 1 lb. confectioner’s sugar
  water
  orange extract
         Add water to get glaze consistency, and add orange extract to taste.

        Brush icing on cookies, add sprinkles. Try not to eat them all before company comes.

     

Connie Miller and Hayden Knight
~ 2010 ~

Connie, Ange and Angie
~ July 29, 2012 ~

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Left: Mary, Tony, Connie, Ange ~ 1943      Right:  Connie and Ange ~ 2014  
   F. N. Burt box factory in background               
(2014 photo by John Domres)                 

Connie and family
~ 27 July 2014 ~

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FIVE GENERATIONS

Connie's parents Gaetano and Rosa Alessi Coniglio, at last count (30 March 2022), have had one hundred and forty-four descendants.

Connie (
Generation One), with her late former husband Don Miller, is the progenitor of FIFTY-ONE of those descendants.
 
 
Andrew & Aaron Miller
 
Savannah & Hailey
Miller
Alessi & Kylie
Miller
 
 
 
 
 

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Concetta (Coniglio) Miller
    August 24, 1925 - February 8, 2025   

   Concetta Mary Miller, 99 of Danville, passed away on Saturday, February 8, 2025 at Carle Foundation Hospital in Urbana. Visitation will be on Friday, February 14th from 10-11am at Holy Family Church, 444 E. Main Street in Danville. A Celebration of Catholic Mass will follow at 11am with Father Narcis Katambe officiating. Following services, Concetta will be laid to rest in Resurrection Cemetery.
 

   Concetta was born into an Italian neighborhood in Buffalo, New York on August 24, 1925 to Gaetano and Rosa (Alessi) Coniglio. She attended school in New York, and as a young teen, picked strawberries and beans to support the family income. As a young woman she worked in a factory to support the war effort during WWII. Concetta met her husband while he was stationed in the Navy. She traveled from New York to Danville on the back of a Harley Davidson, where she spent the rest of her life. Concetta was a stay-at-home mother, raising five children, and being the most loving, caring, and helpful mother imaginable. She made homemade lunches for her children every day, and made their own clothes as well. She was a Brownie troop leader, and her boys’ biggest cheerleader when they raced their motorcycles.

 


   Concetta never drove or worked outside the home until her divorce in the early 1970’s, when she not only obtained a driver’s license, but also went to DACC to become an LPN. Her patience and gentle and loving nature made her an amazing caregiver for the elderly. Concetta continued working in healthcare until December of 2003 until a broken hip forced her retirement.

   Concetta saw two sons enlist and retire from the US Navy. She traveled across the United States on vacation by motorcycle more than once, and she enjoyed traveling to Sicily several times after her retirement. She enjoyed meeting family members for the first time, and absolutely loved it there. She taught her children and grandchildren to make Italian cookies, Easter Bread, and other wonderful Sicilian foods that she grew up on and learned from her mother. She felt it was important to keep her Sicilian heritage alive, even in rural Illinois.


   Concetta leaves behind her five children: Jacquelyn (Jerald) Feingold, Michele Steht, Andrew Miller, Matthew (Dana) Miller, and Roseann Miller; seventeen grandchildren, twenty-nine great-grandchildren, and five great-great grandchildren. She also leaves behind one remaining brother Angelo (Angela) Coniglio. She was preceded in death by her parents, one granddaughter, and eight brothers and sisters: Gaetano ‘Guy” Coniglio, Raymond Coniglio, Leonard Coniglio, Felice Coniglio, Carmela Volo, her twin sister Maria Sowa, Antonio “Tony” Coniglio, and Guiseppe Coniglio.  

    Messages and memories may be left on our website at www.KrugerCoanPape.com, or on the Kruger Funeral Home Facebook page. Memorials may be made in Concetta’s name to Holy Family Catholic Church. 

 

To Connie's Page 1

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Generations:

Genesis

1 (Siblings)

2 3 4 5

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Gaetano & Rosina

1
Guy

2
Len

3
Ray

4
Phil

5
Millie

6
Connie

7
Mary

8
Tony

9
Ange

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