Matilda C. Russo died at her home in Huntington, Connecticut on April 30, 2017. Her son John M. Russo, Esq., her nephew Francis Robert Russo Jr. and her beloved care-taker Amelia Afonso and her daughters were at her side.  Born in Brooklyn, New York on November 2, 1923, she was the youngest of Annie and Frank Ammirati’s five children. She graduated from Franklin K. Lane High School and from the Long Island College School of Nursing (State University of New York Downstate Medical Center) where she earned her R.N. in 1944. An officer in her nursing school class, she was awarded the Mabel Beers Harkness Memorial Medal for her academic achievements. After graduation she worked as a nurse in the obstetrical service where she met her future husband John R. Russo M.D. who was a resident in Pediatrics at that time.  They were married in Atlanta, Georgia on February 6, 1946 and moved to Connecticut in 1949 where her husband practiced Pediatrics in Bridgeport for over forty years.  From 1969 to 1997, she worked by his side as a nurse in his office. They were happily married for 65 years until his death in 2011.  A loving wife and mother, she devoted her life to her husband and children. She was an active member of the St. Vincent’s Hospital Women’s Auxiliary, used her nursing skills as a regular volunteer for the American Red Cross Blood Bank. She participated in her children’s activities as a Cub Scout Den Mother, Girl Scout Troop Leader and in the Parent Teacher Association of the Unquowa School, in Fairfield. She encouraged her children in all their academic, athletic and artistic activities. Apt at batting in runners at the annual parents versus children softball games at Unquowa, she never missed a ski trip, sailing excursion or opera performance. Her children’s classmates considered her their favorite chaperon because of her youthfulness, cheerfulness and kindness.  A beloved sister, sister-in-law, aunt, great-aunt and grandmother, she had a special knack for encouraging youth and bringing out the best in everyone she knew. The children in her family said the same thing about her that she made them feel better about themselves. An avid reader of biographies and history, she liked keeping abreast of politics and in her later years became very knowledgeable about baseball, especially about the Yankees.  She was also a long time member of Black Rock Yacht Club. The last of her generation in her family, she is survived in addition to her son John, by her daughter Adelaide M Russo of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, her grandson Andrew J.D. Russo Esq. and his fiancée Laurel Goverman.  On Tuesday May 30, 2017 Father Michael K. Jones will celebrate Matilda’s life at 11 a.m. at Saint Lawrence Church, 505 Shelton Avenue in Huntington, Connecticut. The Russo family would especially like to thank Amelia Afonso and her daughters, Louisa, Linda, Ana, Lucy, and Carminda for the excellent care and the loving companionship they provided to Matilda these past years.  In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Matilda C. Russo Student Travel Fund for Graduate Students in French Studies and Comparative Literature at Louisiana State University Foundation, LSU College of Humanities & Social Sciences, 132 Hodges Hall, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, or online at www.lsufoundation.org/give. Please specify ‘Matilda C. Russo Student Travel Fund’ in the Gift Comments box. Arrangements by the Redgate – Hennessy Funeral Home, Trumbull. To send online condolences please visit www.redgatehennessy