| 3.20.2003
Tina DiRienzo, 37; loved gardens, animals, dancing
The garden at Christina DiRienzo's house in Plymouth, Mass., is filled
with red: she loved the hummingbirds that crimson-hued flowers would draw.
In addition to the red garden, Tina kept a vegetable garden, where she
grew tomatoes and peppers that she canned.
Tina, 37, shared the house and acre of grounds with her companion, Russell
Tripp, whom she had known since high school in Wareham. The two kept a
menagerie -- three goats, cats, and a host of other animals.
When not gardening or taking care of her animals, Tina loved to go country-and-western
dancing, and to groove to the "oldies but goodies." Tina and
Russell would go to dances at Redman's Hall in Wareham, often joining
her mother, Patricia Pina, and her mother's husband, John.
Patricia says she would often dance with her daughter: "She'd say,
'Come on, Mom, this is our song.' " Their songs included classics
like Roy Orbison's "Pretty Woman" and "Wooly Bully"
by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs.
"Sometimes we'd even have a house party here, and she and I would
get up and dance," Patricia said. The two also enjoyed quiet Thursday
nights at the Pinas' house, playing kitty whist with Tina's sister Terry
Rakoski and Patricia's sister-in-law.
Patricia was glad to have Tina as a companion, and had missed her during
the eight years Tina spent in Kentucky with her then-husband, Peter, and
two sons, Peter and Beau. "We did get a chance to go down and visit
them, a couple of years before they came back, but it was way too short,"
Patricia said. "I wanted her to come back with me."
Four years ago, Tina and her family returned. "We still just didn't
have enough time together to make up for lost time," Patricia said.
Tina was also trying to catch up with her sister, Terry. The two went
to The Station together -- Patricia said heavy metal was Terry's interest,
not Tina's. The night was a regular get-together with the girls, Patricia
said. The two were supposed to go with three other friends, but only one
joined them, Kristine Carbone, Terry's neighbor in Taunton. All three
women died in the fire.
-- Jessica Resnick-Ault
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