THE YOUNG ITALIAN; CHAPTER 7

THE YOUNG ITALIAN

CHAPTER 7

ALLOW ME TO BACK UP SOME.

ABOUT THE BLOGGER

Tony was born and raised in Toronto,ON, Canada. He received his early education at several catholic schools throughout the city. He attended and graduated from De La Salle Oaklands when it was an all boys Catholic High School. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a Bachelor of Arts in Economics. 

In 1964 he was married to Ann Marie Kirby and began a career in teaching Physical and Health Education at Fenelon Falls Secondary School.  He was appointed Head of the Physical Education Department at FFSS in 1967. In 1973, he received a Sabbatical leave to complete his Masters Degree in Physical Education-The Theory of Coaching - from Lakehead University. The family of 7 moved to Thunder Bay, ON. Tony became the assistant coach of the Lakehead University Varsity men's basketball team, the Norwesters, under Arnie Donovan.  He completed his thesis that year and the family set out on a summer camping trip across Canada.  They returned from the Lakehead and Tony continued his teaching career at FFSS for another 32 years. In 1983 Tony, with a fellow teacher and partner, founded a cable TV company in the Fenelon Falls / Bobcaygeon areas. In 1991 he elected to give up the headship and teach part time in order to better manage the company and his time.

In 1975 He began a summer position as a P.E. Instructor and councillor at the Ontario Athletic Leadership Camp for boys.  He continued on there for 5 summers and served as a senior counselor and program director at the camp for the final 2 summers. Tony was invited to join the Music Leadership Camp and was a counselor for 5  summers at this co-ed facility.

In 1975, Tony was selected to travel to Moscow, USSR on a Government sponsored Symposium on Sport. In 1978 he was an assistant coach at the Canadian Men's National Team tryout camp in Ottawa under Jack Donohue. In 1996 Tony retired from teaching and in 1998 became sole owner and CEO of Cable Cable Inc.

I am not an Italian. I am a Canadian, born in of Italian Immigrant parents. I am proud of my heritage, my late parents, 3 siblings, 6 children and 16 grandchildren. Life has been very good to me. As a young lad, my experiences were quite restricted. Mom and dad worked 6 days a week from 6 AM to 9 PM in their market store and had little time for new ideas or a chid's development. That's what school was for.

At home, I wanted to be where the action was and would frequently sneak into the store. Dad thought I was too small to be of use in the store front and that I was a distraction for the customers. He always directed me to the back dining room, sometimes more forcefully than others. Gerardo made liberal use of an ear twist (while marching me forward on my tip-toes), a cuff in the back of the head or an attempted kick in the ass (I became quite adept at avoiding the boot). These techniques were always accompanied by the expression, "Get inna the backa....I said!" 

Gerardo had 2 old photographs of himself looking mighty stern and dangerous. They were 2 foot by 1 foot oval frames with a curved glass  cover. These were hung strategically over the archway between the back kitchen and dining room. Dad claimed that he could see me at all times through these pictures. "You betta stoppa you selfa...I said!", he would bellow from the front store if I was making too much noise. I became convinced of his oversight. 

Today when my wife Ann Marie dislikes my weird behaviours, silliness or far-out ideas; she shakes her head and declares, " You spent too much time in the back room!"

Gerardo Fiorini
Dad was born and lived in a small town called Scifelli near the municipality of Veroli in the Province of Frosinone, Italy.

GERARDO'S SCIFELLI HOMESTEAD

ITALIAN ALPINI WW1

He joined the Italian army in WW1 as an Alpini (ski patrol) when he was 17-years-old. He was actually only fifteen but he altered his birth records in order to enlist.  The large army was fighting Austria-Hungary in the Northern Alps. After a series of battles and huge troop losses, the Italians had advanced close to the Austrian border. When Germany entered the war on the side of Austria, the Italian Generals and high-ranking officers, most of whom were patronage appointments rather than ones achieved through training and merit, deserted their troops leaving them leaderless. Many of them surrendered. Some escaped to find their way home while others, including Gerardo, travelled to villages along the French border. In the following months dad worked on a farm in Northern France. Austria sued for peace in 1918, the war ended  and Gerardo went home to Scifelli.  He was to learn of an opportunity on a farm in Canada. The Scifelli homestead was too small to support 4 brothers and 3 sisters.  Gerardo made a decision to go to America with his cousin.  They travelled to Naples to board the Conte Rosso, sailing to Ellis Island in New York.  

Gerardo's Voyage Details

Ship: Conte Rosso

Ship Arrival Date: 1 Nov 1923 

Ship Arrival Port: New York

Departure Port: Napoli

The Conte Rosso

The crossing   was difficult, fear filled and replete with sea sickness.  They arrived at Ellis Island. Gerardo spent six months in New York as a dock worker; earning enough money to complete the trip to his final destination, a farm located in Newmarket, Ontario. To get there, he  boarded a ship that sailed from New York City to the port city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. After a long train ride to Toronto's Union Station, he was met by his future employer. He lived and worked on the farm that year for room and board and the sum of ten dollars.  The following winter, he decided to seek employment with a 'paisano' who had started a construction company in Toronto. He left Newmarket but the farmer had no funds to pay him his ten dollar wage. Next spring Gerardo rode a bicycle from Toronto to the farm only to learn the farmer still could not pay him the ten dollars. He never revealed to me the name of the farmer. Later, whenever I expressed outrage at this story, he would only praise him as a good man who was instrumental in allowing him to achieve his Canadian Citizenship. "Neva you minda, He's a gooda personna!"

  

Angela Dipaola

ZIO SANTO DIPAOLA ON THE FARM IN CATAFFI

Mom's family was living in Newark NJ when her older sisters, Anna and Rosa were born.  My grandfather, Antonino Dipaola, owned and ran a grocery store. He was constantly hassled by the NJ mafia for protection money and as a result decided to move back home with his family to his native Sicily. They returned to the village of Cataffi in the municipality of San Filippo del Mela, Province of Messina in Northern Sicily. It was here that Angela was born. At age 15 she was sent to live and look after an ailing aunt in the latter's home. A year later she was sponsored to emigrate to Canada by Anna, who had married and previously emigrated to this country. Anna and her new husband, Tony Valenti, had opened a grocery store in Toronto and summoned Angela to Canada to help them run the business.

Angela and Gerardo met in Toronto and were married. Uncle Tony had decided to change occupations and became a home builder. He had met Gerardo through a mutual friend and introduced Angela to him. Mom and dad purchased the business from Anna and Tony and so began a successful and hard working career and lifestyle. 

Mister Cazzo

After two years, the business was thriving under the proprietorship  of Gerardo and Angela. Mr. Cazzo, the owner of the building on Young street where their store was located,  decided to cancel their tenancy and run the business for himself. Angela and Gerardo found another building for rent two blocks north on the same side of the street. They opened a new store and took all the customers with them. Mr Cazzo was left with a bankrupt store and an empty building.  WOO HOO. Gerardo and Angela, on the other hand, did so well in the new location that they were able to purchase the building as well as the one next door.

QUOTE FOR THE WEEK:

"Most Italians who came to this country are very patriotic. There was this exciting possibility that if you worked real hard, and you loved something, you could become successful." -Francis Ford Coppola

QUESTION:

How would you describe a perfect day when you were young?

LAURELS TO: 

LUCIANO PAVAROTTI:  For this:

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