By Katie Vasquez
A row of family photos is proudly displayed at Maria Pulsone’s Queens home.
“I’m very happy for my family. We over here, we make a better life,” said Pulsone.
A life the Catholic was able to build with her husband and son when they came to America from the Molise region of Italy in 1955.
“You know, all working people, that we come here for a piece of bread,” said Pulsone.
In her new life in Flushing, she worked in the garment industry, sewing tuxedos to make ends meet.
“You kind of got to put a seam at the seam and then you’ve got to work here. so that’s the job,” said Pulsone.
About 45 years ago, her boss at Saint Laurie honored her years of hard work, by asking her to sit for a statue that they would display in the showroom of their Broadway building.
The image of the model employee, becoming just as much of a staple for the showroom as she was.
“I say, good morning Maria, good night Maria,” said Pulsone.
The company eventually closed its doors, but last year her family including her son Nunzio started thinking about where it ended up.
“Looked it up on Google and poof, statue of sewing woman and they came up and they found that it was in Pennsylvania,” said Nunzio Pulsone, Maria’s son, “and we purchased it.”
They then donated the statue to the Italian-American Museum on Mulberry street in Little Italy, where visitors can say hi to Maria’s statue, located right by the door of the museum, just like her coworkers did years ago.
“She’s representing the hardworking people that came from Italy in the garment district. You know, so that’s, it’s an honor to have that,” said Nunzio Pulsone.
And while Maria is humbled by the gesture, she’s happy that her legacy will live on for years to come.
“Now my family, you know, sometimes they go to the museum, they say that’s my grandma, and so my great grandma,” said Maria Pulsone.
To learn more about the museum, head to their website: https://www.italianamericanmuseum.org/