July 19, 2022 Submitted by Laura Sorgi
If you drove down Gardner Street on Friday, July 15th and thought you heard an angelic voice singing “Ave Maria”, your mind was not playing tricks on you. That beautiful voice was HHS alumna Julie Rolfing singing a tear jerking rendition to Gardner Street’s birthday gal, Violet Villani. Violet, as well as her Gardner Street neighbors, was in shock at her lovely rendition.
This surprise party was in honor of Violet’s 98th birthday. Violet is a woman of strong faith, optimism and beauty. She has extreme gratefulness for all of her blessings. Her neighbors all think the world of her and planned the celebration of balloons, cupcakes, signs and of course, singing! Neighbor Diane Denapoli, recalled Violet telling her that “Ave Maria” was her favorite song and that once when singing it, she experienced an out of body spiritual movement. She shared the moving story again with everyone. Diane arranged via social media for Julie to come and sing to Violet as Violet loves to sing! She sings in the choir at St. Paul’s Church and Church of the Resurrection every Sunday. During the pandemic, she was not able to sing which was very difficult for her. She is thrilled to be back in the choir loft!
Hingham Police Detective Heather Hermida stopped by to wish Violet well and in a sweet stroke of serendipity, realized she sang in the high school choir with Julie! Happy Birthday to Violet. She is a class act!