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Community
ESTELLE
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had been enlivened by an un- expected seasoning of unique funkiness.
The choir’s blend of exper- tise and inventiveness was, in many ways, a reflection of Es- telle Giarrizzo’s life, a journey enriched by a surprising har- mony of seemingly discordant talents and interests.
Estelle began what would be- come a rewarding lifetime jour- ney on June 11, 1938. She was Eva and Leo Rondeau’s second child. Estelle’s older brother, Francis, was already enlivening the household on Clark Street in Lowell, Massachusetts. The little girl’s first steps were aborted by an attack of scarlet fever, which confined her to a bed until age 5. Estelle then relearned to walk and resumed a creative ambula- tion that would eventually lead to diverse and challenging ca- reers; occupations that would seem to be not only unrelated but intellectually incompatible. As she regained her ability to walk, the family welcomed a third child, a girl, Vivian. The
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old house, with family now complete, resounded with the spirited voices of five Rondeaus, all speaking in French.
By age ten, Estelle’s unique musical talents had become con- spicuous, and Leo bought the apparent prodigy her first piano. Within a year, she appeared in St. Joseph Hall in Lowell, dressed in a concert gown espe- cially created by Eva. Her per- formance of Beethoven’s “Fur Elise” with complex arpeggios was flawless. In subsequent years, Estelle would refine her keyboard skills under the tute- lage of a half dozen instructors, each successive teacher being increasingly fit for, and demand- ing of, Estelle’s development as a pianist. Concurrently, Estelle was learning a very different skill from a gifted nun, Sister Mary, a teacher at St. Patrick's High School. Sister Mary was teach- ing Estelle advanced mathemat- ics, including complex quadratic equations. As they would say in those days, her “left brain” was developing a sophistication to match her “right brain’*. Some- how, Estelle found the time to
enrich that complex intellect with a mastery of English (self- taught), and by graduation, she was bilingual.
After High School gradu-
ation, Estelle attended Lowell State College (now UMass Low- ell), where she studied to earn a BS degree with joint majors in music and education. Appar-
ently, enough time was left over to earn the income needed to be a waitress in a Greek restaurant. In 1963, after graduating with honors, Estelle began a career in education, teaching Music, Algebra, and French. During this time, she would marry, bear, and nurture two sons. Close to a decade passed, and Estelle re- turned to a first love, perform- ing church music. The change in vocations enabled her to spend more time with her boys.
As midlife approached and the boys were now grown, Es- telle became restless to explore and learn something new. She chose to enroll in Johnson and Wales University School of Technology (now JWU College of Engineering and Design) in Providence, RI. Estelle applied, knowing the cost for this new endeavor might be prohibitive. She let the school know of her limited means.
The administration, im- pressed with her resume, granted Estelle a Pell grant, and that hurdle was surmounted. However, it wasn’t the last ob- stacle. She was the only female