Sylvia Lydia D'Albergo Knudson, passed away on June the 3 ^rd 2019 at age 99 after a full and satisfying life dedicated to her love of music, her family, and a quiet knowing that her God had and would always take care of her.

She was born Silvia Lidia D'Albergo on March 19, 1920 in Pachino, Syracuse, Sicily, Italy on a return visit to Sicily by her parents Arturo D'Albergo of Syracuse, Sicily and Angelina Machera of Palermo, Sicily. She was the youngest of six siblings including Elvira, Clement, Light, Andrew, Jean, and Sylvia. She loved her family and she missed them dearly, having outlived her last sibling by nearly 20 years.

She lived briefly in Birmingham, Galveston, Dallas, New York and Houston. She attended Ball High School, Galveston (1935-1938) and Southern Methodist University, Dallas (B.A. Public School Music with Minors in Piano and Voice) (1939-1943), where she was the first female fencing coach. She also taught fencing at The Hockaday School in Dallas (1938-1944). She received her Master's in Music education from New York University, where she assisted Modena Scoville in teaching adult class piano (1955-56).

Music was her life. Starting at age 3 she sang at her father's church, the Italian Waldensian Church that met in the chapel next to the First Presbyterian Church in Galveston. Her childhood music included such piano pieces as La Spagnola, a Neapolitan Vale Piano Solo; Edelweiss Glide; Carnival of Venice; Flower Song by Gustave Lange; excerpts from La Traviata; Il Travotore Fantaisie Op. 39. No. 3; Solfeggietto by CPE Bach and many hymns such as Nearer My God to Thee, "Vo recinto D'insidie Funeste", an Italian song about the Lord guiding us throughout life, "Vieni Sull'ali del Vento" ("Under His Wings"), "I love to Tell the Story", "Safe in the Arms of Jesus" ("Sicura in Man di Christo"), and "Abide with Me" ("Resto con Noi").  These songs still touched her heart in her 90's. From her sister Light she learned Spanish songs such as Cielito Lindo and La Paloma. She also learned "fun songs" from a Napolitano dialect.

While attending SMU she sang at the First Presbyterian Church in Dallas, Texas (1938-1944). She also performed in Summer Stock (musicals) in Dallas, Texas (1949) and sang at the First Presbyterian Church in Galveston, Texas (Alto and Soprano soloist) (1944-1949). She also sang for the USO during the war, having noticed "all the boys just disappeared." In New York City, she attended the Dramatic Workshop (1949-50) and the Amato Opera Workshop (1951-52), studied voice privately with Vera Covert and Alfred S. Stohner (1949-52), and studied piano privately under Roger Boardman (1955-56). She sang at St. Bartholomew Episcopal Church in New York City (1954-1957) and at Trinity Episcopal Church in Houston (Alto Soloist) (1960-1963).

Sylvia was brave and adventurous in her choices in life, always guided by the hand of God and his Word. As a young girl growing up in Galveston, she would enjoy long swims along the shore in the Gulf of Mexico and long runs back. She loved going with her father to get ice cream and racing a horse against 1930's vintage cars as they ran along the highway in Alta, Loma – a property where her father planted a pear tree that was still alive 80 years later and producing fruit that her grandchildren ate.

She was greatly impacted by her father's statement during the Great Depression to her mother: "Lena, there is no food." As a pastor, her father was known in the community for his honesty and integrity, a model his children learned through financial sacrifices he made during the Depression.

Sylvia "made her confession of faith" at a young age. As she recounted that life-changing dedication, she stood in the chapel where her father's Waldensian Church worshipped, now known as the Knox Chapel.  Glancing up to the cross her heart was visibly touched as she remembered that moment of surrender. She never wavered in her abiding faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Sylvia left Galveston to go to New York to sing off Broadway and get an advanced degree in music. This step was partially motivated by her need to work outside of Galveston, where she had stirred up some controversy when she questioned the practice of giving only used textbooks to segregated schools.

During her time in New York, Sylvia lived in Greenwich Village. For a time, she lived in a boardinghouse whose only requirement was that there could only be one girl of each nationality. While there, she memorized each of their national anthems, and could play and sing Hatikva and the Marseillaise until her last days. She also joined Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church and met her husband Paul Fritdjoff Knudson, a talented Harvard trained musician and composer whose father was a violinist at the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They were married by Rev. Joseph C Hodges at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church on May 18, 1956. Their only child, Paul Arthur Knudson was born on December 15, 1957. They were divorced on January 19, 1959.

As a single mother, "Mom" provided for her son by getting up every day and going to work thus demonstrating love through honest diligent hard work. Her first teaching jobs were in Yonkers, New York (Hawthorne Junior High School) and Pleasanton, Texas. While in Pleasanton she developed a program to give used clothing to the local people in need. She also advocated for equal educational opportunities for her Mexican and Jewish students, a stance for which she nearly lost her job.

She spent the majority of her career as a music teacher in the Houston Independent School District with many students benefitted from her encouragement to attain high standards, with some performances involving as many as 1600 students. She always wanted to make sure Christ stayed in "Christmas" performances. She was also passionate about mentoring young teachers who, like her, had come from bilingual and multicultural backgrounds. Even after retirement, she taught nearly 100 students in private piano lessons. Many continue to enjoy the fruits of her labor of love as she encouraged them to "practice daily."

In her 60s, she would jump off a catamaran and hold onto a rope as it barreled through the Gulf waters. Until her late 90s, she loved walking in her neighborhood and working in the yard -- at age 98 she was still chopping bushes and at 99 she would still greet therapists at the door with a fencing sword in hand. Until her last weeks, she still played the piano for her friends at the assisted living facility. On the day before her death, she went outside to enjoy the sunshine and worshipped the Lord together with her friends at the retirement home.

Sylvia, or Nona, is survived by her son Paul Arthur Knudson of Houston and his wife Janet Ann Acker Knudson of Milwaukee and their two daughters: Alexandra Anne Knudson and Elizabeth Ann Knudson Dekeyser with her husband Francois Dekeyser, and their children Emeline, Luca, and Eva Sylvia.

As a believer in Jesus Christ, each day Nona became "Nearer My God to Thee" and today she is still playing by ear and singing with her lifelong Friend who never abandoned her nor forsook her and who, in her words, was always working out everything for good.

Her Memorial Service will be at the Knox Chapel at First Presbyterian Church in Galveston Texas at 11:00 a.m. on Friday June 14 ^th 2019.

She will be interned next to her parents Arturo and Angelina D'Albergo in the historic Oleander cemetery in Galveston, Texas.