Photo Courtesy of Randy Ritter
Actor and former Derby resident Brian Dennehy with Derby’s Frances Terlizzi.
DERBY — Valley residents are remembering Frances Terlizzi, the owner of the former “Vonettes Palace of Sweets,” an ice cream/candy shop that was a fixture on Main Street.
The photo above shows Terlizzi with actor Brian Dennehy, a former Derby resident who went to Vonettes when he was a kid. Dennehy passed away last week.
Terlizzi’s passing was announced Wednesday by Derby City/Town Clerk Marc Garofalo:
“It is with deep personal regret that I inform you of the passing of Frances Terlizzi, a downtown Derby Icon. She was the owner of the former Vonettes Palace of Sweets on Main Street in Derby and later the head chef of Junni Moon’s Restaurant. To know Fran was to love her and her beaming personality.
She served generations of families at her counters and she knew your order before you placed it. Her passing represents the end of an era. We will all remember with great fondness and affection the good times spent at Vonettes and Junni Moon’s with her endless spirit and hospitality. May she rest in peace.
Please join Mayor Richard Dziekan and the entire City of Derby in expressing our deep sadness, sympathy, and condolences to her extended family here in the Valley. She will be missed but we are comforted that she passed in her sleep of natural causes after a long full life.”
An obituary will be published when it is available.
Click here for a post on The Electronic Valley about what the Palace of Sweets and Terlizzi meant to Derby.
