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Place of Birth
Tampa, Florida
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Place of Death
Dade City, Pasco Co. Florida
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Burial Place
Holton Cemetary, Pasco Co., FL
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Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree, about 1939.
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Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree on her wedding day, May 12, 1943, in Tampa.
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Three generations of Tripolino women, about 1958. Left to right: Carol Diane McKendree, Andenzia Romano Tripolino, Sharon Elaine McKendree and Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree.
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The Romano women at Aunt Carmen and Jimmy Barcelona's 25th anniversary, Ragan Park, Tampa, about 1957. Left to right: Rosina Guida Romano, MaryAnn Candeleri, Bonnie Tripolino, Carmela Romano Barcelona, Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree, Mary Tripolino Lazzara, Andenzia Romano Tripolino and Rosa Romano Palacio.
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More of the Romano women at the Barcelonas' 25th anniversary, Ragan Park, Tampa, about 1957. Left to right: Carmela Romano Barcelona, Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree, Mary Tripolino Lazzara, Andenzia Romano Tripolino and Rosa Romano Palacio.
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The family reunion trip to Contessa Entellina, 1975. In front, left to right: Mary Tripolino Lazzara, Anna Romano Bruno (in blue), Rosina Guida Romano and Ralph Lazzara Jr. Behind Mary is Vincenzo (Jimmy) Romano; behind Rosina is Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree.
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Family reunion in Darby, Florida, 1975. Seated in front: Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino McKendree and Joe Belluccio. Second row: Bill McKendree, Katie Romano Pullara, Nina Romano Belluccio, Mary Tripolino Lazzara and Lacy Marie Lazzara (kneeling). Third row: Vincenzo (Jimmy) Romano, Rosina Guida Romano, Philip Tripolino, Carmen Romano Muley, Rosa Romano Palacio, Carmela Romano Barcelona and Lena Romano Leto. Fourth row: Joe Pullara, Jim Leto, Dominic Muley and Ralph Lazzara Jr.
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The wedding of Ralph Lazzara Jr. and Mary Tripolino, Tampa, about 1939. Left to right: unknown, Ralph Lazzara Jr., Mary Tripolino, Rosina Guida, Vincenzo (Jimmy) Romano, Antoinette (Lena) Tripolino, unknown, unknown.
Antoinette Tripolino was born in Tampa on February 13, 1927, the fourth of Tony and Andenzia Tripolino’s five children. Though christened Antoinette, she was called Lena all her life. Her grandchildren knew her as Nani. She grew up in her parents’ Tampa household, where census takers found her at 3, at 13 and again in 1945. At 11 she was in the bridal party at her sister Mary’s wedding, and she appears in the wedding photo the Tampa Tribune ran on November 23, 1938.
On May 12, 1943, at 16, she married Willie Betha “Bill” McKendree Jr. in Hillsborough County. Their first daughter, Carol Diane, was born in January 1945 at the Centro Asturiano Hospital in Tampa, and a second daughter followed in 1948.
Lena was active in her community. The Tampa newspapers show her as toastmistress at a Fire Department banquet in 1952 and in a 1956 item about the American Can Company. In 1975, she and Bill made the papers for helping catch robbers. Later, after moving to Dade City, she served as president of the VFW Auxiliary and recording secretary of the Dade City Women’s Club.
She died in Dade City on June 23, 1995, at 68, and is buried in Holton Cemetery in Pasco County.