The Good Memories; Past and Present
An Image of Tony Ferraro and Peter Marucci, retreived from the Marucci albums in the Wellington Archive website.
An image of Tony Ferraro, Peter Marucci and Jim Schroder, as retreived from the Marucci albums in the Wellington Archive website, album 17, image 047.
A positive View of Life
Tony afferma con orgoglio che, anche se non ha mai avuto l'opportunità di finire la scuola, si era educato, ed è stato evidente dall'intervista quanto fosse istruito. Tony dovette anche imparare la lingua inglese da solo, poiché la sua famiglia parlava solo il dialetto italiano calabrese nella loro casa canadese. Ha parlato di una circostanza divertente quando voleva comprare un colino per maccheroni con sua madre e lei lo portò con sé al mercato, siccome il suo inglese era migliore. Lui, tuttavia, non sapeva quale fosse il nome del colino in inglese, così ha dovuto spiegare al proprietario del negozio "it’s got holes in it, the macaroni stays on top and the water goes away". È anche orgoglioso del fatto che tutti i suoi figli sono andati a scuola e all'università. Parla con affetto dei suoi nipoti, uno dei quali è il nipote la cui foto era sul tavolo nella sua stanza dove abbiamo avuto l'intervista. È un medico dell'ospedale generale di Toronto e dell'ospedale ebraico Mount Sinai a Toronto, dopo aver ricevuto la laurea presso l’Università di Ottawa. Parla anche di suo figlio che ha iniziato la sua attività dove era un costruttore di piscine, affermando con orgoglio che i suoi due figli (i nipoti di Tony) lavorano con lui nella stessa attività. La figlia di Tony, di cui è anche orgoglioso, era un insegnante di scuola, ma ora è in pensione. Lei ha un figlio, due bambini che lo visitano frequentemente. Uno dei suoi figli è un grande giocatore di hockey e calcio, come ha detto Tony. Lui a 14 anni e sta giocando in un torneo di calcio in Indiana.
Quando gli ho chiesto in quale paese preferiva vivere e in quale paese aveva avuto una migliore esperienza in Italia o Canada, Tony ha risposto dicendo quanto gli piaceva il Canada e quanto fosse buono il Canada per lui. Tuttavia, è stato lui a far funzionare bene l'esperienza canadese lavorando e costruendo la sua vita e il suo business da solo “nobody’s given me a handout, I had to get it myself. Oh, I love Canada, sure. I am happy my parents came here, but they weren’t treated how they should have been treated, they were treated like second class citizens, that was not nice, we are supposed to be all brothers and sisters.”
Always A bright Perspective
Tony parla di tutte le lotte che ha sostenuto, di tutti i tempi bui che ha visto e di come tutto lo ha influenzato. Parla di come le esperienze negative che ha avuto sono incise nel suo cuore e come non potrà mai dimenticarle. Dice anche che viveva con costante paura che questi eventi si sarebbero verificati di nuovo, ma alla sua famiglia invece di se stesso, e di come ha fatto del suo meglio perché ciò non accadesse. Eppure, Tony e la sua famiglia sono riusciti a creare ricordi felici così come costruire una bella reputazione sia per il suo nome di famiglia e come le sue attività diverse. È stato in grado di fare tutto questo e mantenere belle relazioni sociali con i membri della comunità italiana e con il club italo-canadese, come si evince dalle immagini qui sotto (on the top left side of this webpage).
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English Translation:
A positive view of Life
Tony proudly states that although he never had the opportunity to finish school, he had educated himself, and it was evident from the interview how educated he was. Tony also had to learn the English language by himself as his family only spoke the Calabrian Italian dialect at their Canadian home. He spoke of a funny instance with his mother when she wanted to buy a macaroni strainer and took him with her to the market as his English was better than hers. He, however, did not know what the name of the machine is in English, so he had to explain to the store owner “it’s got holes in it, the macaroni stays on top and the water goes away”. He is also proud of the fact that all his kids went to school and university. He fondly speaks of his grandchildren, one of which is his grandson, whose picture was on the table in his room where we had the interview, who is a doctor in the Toronto general hospital and the Jewish hospital Sanai hospital in Toronto after graduating from the University of Ottawa. He also speaks of his son who started his own business where he was a builder of swimming pools, stating proudly that his two sons (Tony’s grandchildren) work with him in the same business. Tony’s daughter, whom he is also proud of, was a school teacher but is now retired. She has a son, 2 children who visit him frequently. One of her sons is a great hockey player, as Tony said. He is 14 years old is playing in a football tournament in Indiana.
When I asked him about which country he preferred to live in and which country he had a better experience in, Italy or Canada, Tony had replied by saying how much he loved Canada, and how good Canada was to him. However, he was the one that made the Canadian experience good by working and building his life and business by himself “nobody’s given me a handout, I had to get it myself. Oh, I love Canada, sure. I am happy my parents came here, but they weren’t treated how they should have been treated, they were treated like second class citizens, that was not nice, we are supposed to be all brothers and sisters.”
Always A bright Perspective
Tony speaks of all the struggles he has been through; of all the dark times he had seen and how it all affected him. He speaks of how the negative experiences he had are engraved in his heart and how he can never forget them. He also says that he lived with constant fear of these events reoccurring but to his family instead of himself, and how he did his best for that not to happen. Still, Tony and his family managed to make happy memories as well as build a lovely reputation both for his family name as well as his different business. He was able to do all that and maintain lovely social relations with members of the Italian community as well as the Canadian- Italian club, as evident in the pictures below (on the top left side of this webpage).
