With deep sadness, the Gentile family announces that Antoinette Marie Gentile entered her eternal home on April 6, 2024 in Springfield, MO. She was eighty-eight years old.

The youngest of three children, Antoinette was born on January 28, 1936 to Italian immigrants Mauro and Lucia Carretta in Chicago, IL. When she was nine months old, she and her family moved back to her parents' quaint hometown of Lavello, Italy, where her parents owned the town bakery.

In 1952, at sixteen years old, Antoinette and her parents followed her brothers back to America, settling in Pittsburgh, PA, where she graduated from high school in 1955. She eventually moved to Los Angeles, CA, and began giving private Italian language lessons through the Berlitz program. Her first (and only) student was a handsome, young Navy veteran named Ron Gentile. They fell deeply in love and married on July 8, 1967. She often joked that she married him because he always carried large wads of cash in his pocket while they were dating, so she assumed he was rich!  Ironically, he never learned to speak fluent Italian, but he gained a very loving, committed, and family-oriented wife.

They began their life together in Santa Fe Springs, CA, and had four children: Carmela, Lisa Marie, Michelle, and Christopher. During those early years, Antoinette fully dedicated herself to raising her children and creating a lovely home for her family. In 1979, the Gentile family moved to the small Midwestern town of Fairfield, IL, where Ron and Antoinette continued to raise their children, and Antoinette worked at Wal-Mart to help with the family finances.  In 2002, Antoinette and Ron left Fairfield to enjoy retirement in Southern California. In 2017, they decided to move to Springfield, MO to be closer to Michelle and her family.

Antoinette highly valued family and family relationships. She often traveled to visit relatives all over America.  She also maintained contact with and visited her relatives in Italy, including attending two family reunions in her hometown of Lavello.

She also was very proud of her Italian heritage, teaching her family about Italian language and culture, including "scarpetta", the practice of spreading a piece of bread around your plate at the end of a meal to wipe the plate clean. She also continued the tradition of making family recipes together every Christmas, such as ravioli, cannoli, and scaldatelli (Italian pretzels), as well as crispelle and calzonetti (Italian fried cookies).

Antoinette's Roman Catholic faith was extremely deep, and she faithfully passed on those values and that religion to her children. Regular Mass attendance was very important to her, as well as regularly reading Catholic-based magazines and books to enrich her faith.

She excelled at her hobbies of sewing and cooking. An accomplished seamstress, she often made clothes for herself and her daughters as well as linens for her home. Her perfectionism made her an excellent cook, and family and friends considered it a special treat to be invited to enjoy her cooking.

In addition to spending time with friends and family, Antoinette also enjoyed quiet evenings at home with Ron, often watching opera concerts of Andrea Bocelli, André Rieu, and Il Volo.

She is preceded in death by her daughter, Lisa Marie Gentile, her parents, Mauro and Lucia Carretta, and her brothers Danny and John Carretta.

She is survived by her husband, Ron, her children, Carmela Lustre, Michelle Litle, and Christopher Gentile, as well as her grandchildren, Ashley Alvarado, Carlos Lustre, Natasha and Logan Litle, and Isabella Gentile.

Services in California will be announced soon.