Anna Louise Gaeta (Milliner) 77, of Saint Petersburg passed away peacefully on 11/27/2013, surrounded by her loving husband of 58 years, Russell A. Gaeta Sr., and her children. Visitation will be held from 5-7 PM with a wake service at 5 PM on Sunday, December 1st at the David C. Gross Funeral Home, 6366 Central Avenue, St. Petersburg. Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Monday, December 2nd, 9:30 AM at the Cathedral of St. Jude the Apostle (Our Lady's Chapel), 5815 5th Ave. N., St. Petersburg. Mom was born to Stephen L. and Lillian A. Milliner (Rawlings) in Louisville, Kentucky and was the youngest of six children. She moved with her family to Jamestown, New York as a young girl and grew up in a small house across the street from the Gaeta family. While Mom finished high school and between Dad's visits on leave from the Navy, they fell in love. When his family moved to California, Dad proposed to Mom and asked her to marry him there. At the young age of 19 Mom moved to Lynwood and married Dad on July 9th, 1955. From June 1956 to March 1964, Ana and Russ had six kids. Chuck, Kathy, Rusty, Lori, Teri and Joey. Mom stayed home to raise us while Dad worked, at times two jobs. In 1968 they ventured into the restaurant business and bought a small deli and pizzeria called Tripeppis Italian Foods in Norwalk, California. With the California environment getting uneasy to raise a family...mom and dad packed us in the station wagon in 1970 and moved us to St. Petersburg. No sooner we arrived and they bought a home and a little pizzeria called Mr. Pizza. For the next 37 years they worked side by side along with one or more of their kids, six days a week, 12-14 hour days; many years without a break. It was here that Mom found her passion for baking. Despite the long hours of waiting tables, eventually Mom added homemade pies, cakes, cookies, and fudge to the menu. She created many new versions of traditional pies, but her star was her very own Chocolate Silk Pie. Mom's talent for making pies became something bigger than she could have imagined. She began taking orders for holiday pies in late 1980 and once sold over 400 pies for Thanksgiving alone! Mom also took custom orders for several restaurants along the beach area. During Christmas and Easter it was not unheard of for her to make 3,000 or more cookies every Christmas Season. Mom's baking and prized recipes are legendary... and appropriately Thanksgiving was one of her favorite holidays. Mom was always at her best when our home was full of chatter and laughter from her family. A typical Thanksgiving meal consisted of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, candied yams, cranberries, lasagna, sausage, meatballs, sauce and her famous Italian bread rolls AND several pies! One year our table was so laden with food it collapsed in the center! Had it not been for the tablecloth the meal would not have survived. It is apropos that Mom passed away the day before Thanksgiving. Her life was full and complete and she went on her own terms. She will be missed dearly by her husband Russell, , 6 Children , Chuck Gaeta, Kathy and Dave Kessler, Rusty and Zella Gaeta, Lori Gaeta, Teri and Keith Knippen, Joe and Stacey Gaeta, 11 grandchildren, 7 great-grandchildren, sister Angel and several nieces and nephews. She is preceded in death by her parents Stephen and Lillian Milliner, sisters Pauline and Katherine, and brothers Lewis and Oscar. Rest with angels Mom. David C. Gross Funeral Homes, Central Avenue Chapel in St. Petersburg is serving the family. Service Information