Fra Noi Embrace Your Inner Italian
Former Roselandites who enjoy the drive into Roseland, arrived at St. Anthony’s on March 20 to the welcoming smiles of fellow Roselandites and St. Anthony Alumni that they hadn’t seen in many years. The Alumni brought many people out for the celebration of mass and the sharing of the St. Joseph’s table. It also gave many people the opportunity to reacquaint themselves with former fellow students, teachers and parishioners.
I made the promised trip to Rockford the day before and provided more than 20 one pound ciopette. At the south end of the church hall the ciope were laid out on a table for everyone to help themselves. Some of the attendees haven’t had ciope, Rockford or otherwise, in over forty years. It was refreshing to hear one former parishioner telling a new parishioner, “You don’t cut them with a knife you break them apart like this.”
Elaine and Sonia Geremia, Barbara Bartok, Joyce Polise, Sandy Bernardi and I represented the St. Anthony’s class of 1961 in celebrating its 50th anniversary. Barbara’s family owned the Midwest Grocery, where I worked for a short time while in grade school, on the corner where St. Anthony’s church was eventually built.
Giovanni and Marie Aver, and Adriano and Gina Galvan were among the more than 200 churchgoers that attended the St. Joseph’s breakfast and took part in the festivities as Fr. Mark made a few announcements. Anna Galvan, LouAnn Pretto and many other women of the parish set up over thirty tables for the guests.
Contact CJ Martello at 1501 W. Belmont Ave. #708, Chicago, IL 60657; 773-525-7823; or cjfranoi@yahoo.com; Online: Roseland Roundtable on Facebook
