Damiris Miranda Papini was born on December 16, 1919 in Grosseto, Italy. She survived World War II only to become a young widow and single mother.



To make a new life for herself and her daughter, she moved to Switzerland marrying a rich doctor and becoming a Swiss citizen. When her daughter married an American GI from Illinois and moved to the United States, Damiris divorced and immigrated as well.



To remain in the United States permanently she had to marry again. Her third husband proved to be abusive and obsessive and so she once again divorced and followed her daughter to Ohio where she eventually met her fourth husband. While this marriage looked to be her nemesis, it lasted forty years and proved to be the path to finding herself.