First came the pain of being furloughed from her full-time job at Hobby Lobby in March. Then arrived the worse pain of learning her 66-year-old father in Naples, Italy, just passed away from Stage IV cancer. This has been a rough spring for Lina Troutman and her family.

A procession of more than a dozen vehicles filled with friends, coworkers and former coworkers came to their emotional rescue.

Organized by Dani Turner and Barb Stein, the well-wishers met at the Trexlertown Plaza parking lot, then traveled in a funeral procession to the Troutman residence on Wild Mint Lane in Allentown.

Lina, her husband Joe and their teenaged daughters Rosemary and Grace, gratefully received the heartfelt sympathy expressed by those who stopped, vehicle by vehicle, to present them with words of comfort, cards, flowers and homemade signs.

Since the Hobby Lobby Trexlertown store opened in fall of 2013, Troutman was the person who regularly brought baked goods and other treats to work for her coworkers. She was also the one who would take the initiative to collect funds for flowers and gifts for those who were ill or lost a loved one.

Due to Gov. Tom Wolf’s ‘non-essential’ business closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Hobby Lobby furloughed its employees March 19. Stein, who had transferred to the Phillipsburg store, was furloughed when New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy followed suit shortly afterward.

Luigi Tessitore, born Oct. 12, 1952, died April 20, 2020, while battling Stage IV cancer in Naples, Italy, leaving behind his wife, Rosa Diretto. Their daughter Lina married U.S. Navy veteran Joe Troutman while he was active and stationed in Italy.

The Troutmans shared their friends’ drive-by greetings with Diretto via smartphone. The recently widowed Italian grandmother called out “Ciao!” to all those within earshot.