People in My Life

Grandma Josephine(?)-My mother's biological mother.  She died when my mother was eight years old.  There was a flu epidemic at that time that killed thousands of people and I think maybe she died of that.  My mother said she died of a cold.  My grandfather went back to Sicily and found another wife and came back to the USA.

Grandma Josephine,second wife of Grandpa Frank, stepmother to my mother, Concetta-She was fat, but really nice.  I remember her black dress with little purple and pink flowers.  She made great bread and pizza and used to tell me "Dunacooda(?)" which mean or so I thought it meant "Be careful, it's hot".  When she died, she was laid out in the living room in a coffin.  I was only about five years old, but my brother Larry and Aunt Carm couldn't miss "Lights Out" with Boris Karloff on the large brown radio my grandfather owned and was in the alcove with a door on it so while grandma was lying in her coffin we were listening to "Lights Out".  My mother told me that when I was young and grandma was dying in her bed I ran over to her with an 8 X 10 picture of me that my uncle who was in the Army at that time had a friend in the Navy who came to visit and took a black and white photo of me sitting at the telephone desk they had at that time.  My mother told me it brought a smile to her face.  She had Leukemia.  I guess by now there's a cure for it.

Grandpa Frank

My Mother, Concetta
My Father, Michael
Only remember vaguely his mother (name unknown) and father, Lorenzo

My Father's Brother, Sibby
My Father's Sister, Ann

My Sister, Josephine
My Sister's husband, Rocky
Josephine and Rocky's kids:
Lynne Marie
Donna
Karen

My Brother, Larry
My Brother's wife, Shirley
Larry and Shirley's kids:
Mark
Gina Marie
Kirt
Dean

Uncle Jimmie, don't remember him.  He died either before I was born or I was too young to remember him.

My Godfather, Uncle Dominick
Uncle Dominick's wife, Dolly
Uncle Dominick and Dolly's kids:
David
Michael

Uncle Sammy
Uncle Sammy's, wife Dolly
Uncle Sammy and Aunt Dolly's kids:
Sammy
Bobby
Susan

Uncle Tony
Uncle Tony's wife, Jean
Uncle Tony and Aunt Jean's kid:
Jamie

Uncle Frank (Died three weeks after his wife died.  Probably from a broken heart).
He was a truck driver and delivered steel beams from a steel plant to customers.  On one delivery he was outside his truck and they were unloading the steel beams when the steel rope which lifted the beam on to the ground broke.  The beam fell and hit my Uncle Frank on the back of the neck and spine.  He was in the hospital for a bit, but then he went on disability because he couldn't sit for long periods of time as truck driver, the only thing he knew how to do?  He always dressed in a pinstriped suit and felt hat even at just family gatherings for the holidays and then some other times.  He was a really sharp dresser and looked like one of the mafia people, but he wasn't one of them.  He was such a gentle man and always nice to me.

Uncle Frank's wife, Connie (Always had ulcers)  She was the funniest of all the aunts.  She was small in stature, always wore makeup nicely and a smile on her face.  She kind of had buggy eyes, but not that prominent.
Uncle Frank and Aunt Connie's kids:
Frank (Died on the operating table from an inoperable brain tumor - his headaches got so bad they at least had to try to get it out - he was in too much pain)
Carmen - Found his father dead in his recliner

Aunt Lena-Second favorite) Had MS but never saw any deterioration in her
Aunt Lena's hunsband, Mike Beat his kids terribly and built his wife a house on an acre of land with handicapped facilities, larger doorways, so his wife could get around in a wheelchair when the time came.
Michael (adopted)-Didn't get along with father-moved to Georgia
Jo Anne (Twin)-Gay
Debra Anne (Twin)-Married

Aunt Carm-my favorite.  She used to buy me Christmas gifts until the family got too large and everyone started having kids of their own.  I was so sad that Christmas when she told me why she didn't get me a gift.  She bought me the book "The Bopsey Twins".  She used to work at Grants, another form of Woolworths in that day as a salesgirl. She used to babysit me and I remember she had a child's easel and I remember doing fingerpainting on it.  It also had a blackboard, I think. She also used to ask me if I wanted Anaset, a peppermint flavored liquor when it was really, really cold in the winter and my mother, sister and brother used to walk to grandpa's house where she lived.  I must have been only about three years old and I remember the winter coat with fur buttons. Later she became a teller in a bank for several years until she was fired.  I don't know why.  She always wanted to go to art school.  But the family laughed at her.  I stood up for her wedding as a flowergirl with a boy, Dan, I was supposed to marry.  That never happened and I got really depressed, but that's another story.

Aunt Carm's husband, Jack-She was matched up with him by my Uncle Mike who was the Service Manager at a local Buick dealer.  Jack got fired several years later, but my Uncle Mike talked to the boss and got Jack's job back-He was a car washer. He was a really nice guy, but kind of whimpish.  I remember when Aunt Carm and Uncle Jack were still living at grandpa's house when they first got married we were all playing cards when a fire engine was on our street.  There was a fire hydrant almost in front of grandpa's house and Uncle Jack's new car was parked in front of it.  Everybody always parked there.  Nothing ever exciting happened on our block.  We all jumped up and looked out the front window of grandpa's house and the firemen were throwing their large hoses on top of Uncle Jack's car.  Jack went running out to I think move his car and we all just started laughing so hard tears were coming out of our eyes.

Aunt Carm and Uncle Jacks kid:
Paul, a/k/a Pauley - It was a few years after Carm and Jack had him.  He was collickey.  Aunt Carm had a really hard time with him and swore no more kinds.  Labor was painful, collicky kid.