Virginia Anne Musso Guarino

June 17, 2019

There is a term in astronomy for the light of stars that reaches the earth millions of years after the stars which created it no longer exist. It is "ghost stars." On June 17, 2019, at the age of 95, Virginia Anne Musso Guarino passed away in her sleep, and there was a new ghost star in the heavens. As Sicilian Italians refer to it, she passed into l altra vita" her "other life" in heaven with God. Virginia Guarino was a graduate of Bessemer High School. She married Claude J. Guarino on June 12, 1950 and together they had two children, Fred, and Anna Lee. She worked at her father's cafe' and later enjoyed a 40-year career at the U.S. Post Office in Bessemer, Ala. Just about everyone who ever lived in or around Bessemer knew Virginia as the money order clerk at the post office, and she knew them. Everyone who knew her considered her a "sweet and gentle woman" with a "beautiful soul." Gran Wilson, a high school friend of Fred's, who became an opera singer and associate professor of voice at the University of Maryland, once wrote that when he lived in Manhattan, he received a letter from a family member. When he opened the letter, he realized there was writing on the envelope that was not a return address. When he looked closer, it read, "Hello Gran & Best Wishes, Love Mrs. Guarino at the P.O." That was the kind of person Virginia Guarino was. She loved everyone, and they knew it. After her husband Claude died on June 9, 1968, Virginia raised her two children alone as a single parent and put them both through college. She has always been a loving and devoted mother to both providing advice and guidance and a shoulder to cry on. She is a new star in the heavens. God has truly welcomed an earthbound angel home. Virginia Guarino was preceded in death by her parents Anthony and Rosalie Musso, her brothers Frank Musso (Chuck), Jack Musso (Madeline), Jim Musso (Bernell) and Joe Musso (Vera and Martha); and her husband, Claude J. Guarino. She is survived by her son Fred (Cam) Guarino and her daughter Anna Lee Hamblen (Kent), two grandchildren Michelle Coleman (Rich) and Andrea Hamblen, two great-grandchildren Haley and Carson Coleman, and a host of nieces, nephews and cousins. Funeral services will be held Thursday, June 20 at St. Aloysius Catholic Church in Bessemer, Ala. at 11 a.m. with a funeral mass followed by burial at Cedar Hill Cemetery in Bessemer. Father Gerald Holloway will be officiating. Visitation will be held at St. Aloysius Catholic Church beginning at 10 a.m. In lieu of flowers, Virginia would have requested donations be made to St. Aloysius Catholic Church.