The legacy of long-time friend and Kennett Square resident Ella Sestrich

Ella Sestrich, community member, social infl Shakespeare lover, Underground Railroad advocat boys, died on March 1, 2022 at the age of 95 – an A local writer reflects on the beautiful connection

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By Winden Rowe Contributing Writer

Rafaella “Ella” Castorina Sestrich was in a class of her own.

There isn’t a person who knew her that does not have an intimate and life changing experience of her burned into their memory, and their heart. It’s simply not possible, because tucked into her most compact and completely authentic body was one of the most powerful and mighty people in the world, and one of the best friends I have ever known.

Brooklyn born and bred, in the same spirit of former Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was also Brooklyn born, Ella was blessed with gusto and moxie. She was both kind and tough as nails and not afraid to be open to the truth of the world and the human experience. Her thoughts were filterless words and her mind was incredible. Because of this, she changed people’s lives everywhere she went.

With her beloved husband Fran, Ella owned and operated Sestrich’s Country Market for 25 years in Unionville, and in that capacity, she became a village keystone for decades, and subsequently, a matriarch, confidant and advisor to the local who frequented the market. She loved her community through food, wine, opera, Shakespeare, the New York Times crossword puzzle, and a deep and profound abiding love for a God who loved all -- and when God didn’t love you, Ella did.

She was a friend to all, Republican and Democrat alike -- people of all shapes, of all sizes, of all colors and societal backgrounds. Ella threw her arms around the whole world, and she never let go. The only thing that she sorely disliked was bad wine, bad food, and bad manners, but everything else was an adventure in exploration and learning.

For decades, locals and innocent passersby would stop at Sestrich’s for the newspaper, and leave with a new angle, a new insight, and a new perspective on their woes, their family life and their future, and despite the way that she mainlined right into your most personal insides, despite that infiltrating, we most often left smiling, and feeling deeply loved -- even if it was a little uncomfortable.

In this world, especially now more than ever, we are so desperately in need of a global mindset change -- a Lovekrieg, the Blitzkrieg’s counterpart -- a mind and heartset change to embody acceptance, celebration, togetherness, community, and a return to the places in our hearts that feel like home. It takes a special kind of fortitude to face ourselves and the things that are sometimes hard to face, but that was Ella’s gift. She was direct yet sensitive yet blunt,

nfluencer, writer, bridge player, cate, wife to Fran and mother to three nd her legacy will never be matched. n she had with her long-time friend ’ to the world

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and she had a way of confronting your inner demons, even if you didn’t want to or had planned to.

I had the deepest honor to be there with Ella in her in her last days. She could hardly muster the energy to move even a muscle in her tired 95 year-old body, but she still managed a sip of Prosecco, and to continually whisper day in day out to everyone who visited her, “I love you.” Her forever favorite saying was “Say yes to the world,” which when interpreted says that life is short and there is only so much sand in the hourglass, so while we are here, she would encourage us all to embrace life, even the things that were hard. I know this because her next favorite pearl of wisdom was to “learn to enjoy the downs as much as the ups.” Ella did so in her last days. She faced death with such poise, with such patience, and with strength. She made sure to love all of those who were around her, as much as we were loving her.

The presence and impact that Ella had on me will never, ever be replicated, and simply against the laws of physics. I knew the day that I left her bedside for the last time that I will never in my lifetime know a woman like her again, and I will never be loved by someone quite the same way. If you knew her, and were loved by her, you too know what I mean.

Rafaella “Ella” J. Sestrich died on Tuesday, March 1, 2022, at the Friends Home in Kennett Square.

Since Ella’s passing, I have lost five friends, four of them to sudden and unexpected death. This has been a year that has reinforced Ella’s truth that says that we only get one wild and crazy life, and as I have learned again in recent days, some of us get 95 years of days, and others so fewer. * * * *

How can we all begin to say “Yes!” to the world again? Can we courageously begin to choose the same mindset that Unionville’s beloved Lady Ella so fluidly embodied? On behalf of dear Ella, I invite you to raise a glass, and with a resounding affirmation, say “Yes!” to the world and to the things that sometimes scare you or discourage you, and see if you, like Ella, can try to come at the hard stuff with a little more curiosity, and a lot more Ella-like moxie.

If Ella Sestrich had one great fear, it was that she would be forgotten, and an even greater fear of hers was that she would return to the other side but not find her great love, Fran. I am certain that neither of those fears will come to fruition, and hopefully, this essay is a continued testament to that.

To you dear Ella, we miss you so greatly, but in your honor, we promise to live on, and just like you, we will keep saying “Yes!” to this beautiful world. Enjoy that martini and a dance to a Sinatra song with Fran. It is all well deserved.

Love, Winden.