Mariantonia's Gifts

By Gloria Cimino James

Mariantonias Gifts is the true story of a woman who defied the odds, set her own course, and created a world for herself and her family that only she could. Her story is sometimes triumphant, sometimes poignant but it is never boring. Through her experiences and determination her family grew, thrived, and remains in tact and flourishing. Page after page it will leave a permanent mark on your heart. Told through the eyes and memories of her granddaughter, her story touches every family regardless of culture or background. . Mariantonias Gifts is truly a gift for everyone who reads it.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Jan 23, 2009
• ISBN: 9781477164389

Gloria Cimino James

Charles R. James was born and raised in New Jersey. He has been married to his wife Gloria for 36 years. A 61 year old working man who also happens to be a singer, songwriter, musician and poet. He is the proud and loving father of his son and only child Peter, who was killed by a drunk driver in January of 2003 at the age of 22. He was inspired to write because of the profound and beautiful poetry that his son left behind.

Book preview

Mariantonia’s Gifts

Gloria Cimino James

Copyright © 2009 by Gloria Cimino James.

ISBN:          Softcover                                 978-1-4363-9034-7

                   Ebook                                      978-1-4771-6438-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,

recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the copyright owner.

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Contents

Foreword

Calabria, Italy

At The Turn Of The Century

The Name Is The Same

Maria Antoinette

Rubino Cimino Bernardo

Life Gets Harder

A Single Working Mother

327-58Th Street West New York,

New Jersey

The Boys

Frank, The Little Match Boy

Mr. Mayor, Please!

How Can I Serve You?

Our Very Own Hero

The Athletes

Paul, The Youngest Son

Josephine, Our Aunt Chicky

327-58Th Street,

Here We Come!!!

The Characters

Tragedy Comes To

Mariantonia Again

The Shops

Food, Food And More Food

These Are A Few Of My

Favorite Things

Happy Birthday Mariantonia And

John, Paul, George, And Ringo

Poems, Prayers, And A

Jesus Nightlight

Ahead Of Her Time

The 1960S

One Half Of The Picture Leaves

February 9, 1975

February 12, 1975

Mariantonia’s Gifts

Dedication

This book is dedicated to my family, each and every one of them. Without them this memoir would have never been written. Thank you, for all the love and life you have given me and this book.

Foreword

In the big scheme of things this story is probably not unlike many others. I am sure most people think and rightly so, that their family was, is and always will be the best. I am not sure if ours was, is or always will be but I think it is definitely different and unique so I decided to write a book about my grandmother, my family, the amazing characters and adventures life handed us. This started out as a memoir for my son Peter so he would know the rich heritage that was his. After losing my only child to a drunk driver I decided to shelve the idea thinking it had no place to go. Now some five years later I felt it was time to bring these memories back and to allow the world to read it. I hope you the reader find our story as wonderful, touching and amazing as I do.

Calabria, Italy

at the turn of the century

Into this world came a beautiful baby girl. Her father, a farmer in good standing adored her. Even though she had two older brothers, an older sister and a twin, it was Mariantonia that her father groomed, trusted, indulged and loved. She learned from him, paid attention to his sense of detail, had his drive and ambition and at the age of twelve was running his farm for him. She would make sure the produce and dairy deliveries were on time, that the bills were paid and that any monies owed the farm were completely paid in full even if she had to go and collect the money herself. She was a risk taker and talked her father into allowing her to use part of the farm to raise silk worms. Against his better judgement he said yes, and one year later had to hire people just to tend the silk worms. There was very little talk about Mariantonia’s mother except for the fact that even though she was a beautiful woman, she was not very bright or capable. The only story I remember my grandmother telling about her was a time she cooked some kind of rodent for the children’s dinner. Mariantonia’s father lost his temper with her and sort of faded her out of his life No matter what or who she was, she gave the world Mariantonia and that is good enough for me.

Mariantonia had it all except for one thing, freedom. She longed for a different kind of life she felt she could only find in America. The freedom she thought she would find here was her driving force. Now, the story that has floated around forever is that she had to leave Italy because she had been raped, murdered the man and had to leave the country quickly. I don’t know if Mariantonia actually told someone this and it eased its’ way through the family for years or what. But since I can find no legal truth to the story and since Mariantonia never spoke about it to me, this will be the only reference to it in the book. Of course if she did say this, we believe her, but true or not Mariantonia left Italy for the shores of America with nothing but the clothes she owned, a few small remembrances and a dream. She saved her money and since she was only thirteen at the time, she used her older sister’s name and papers to leave Italy. This little bit of information had remained a secret for a long time. So, our star of the family wasn’t Mariantonia at all. She wasn’t Maria or Mary. She was really Antoinette. But from the moment she set sail for Ellis Island and for the remainder of her life she was Mariantonia, my grandmother.

Mariantonia’s story will unfold throughout the following little stories. By the end of the book you will know her, her children, her sorrows and her triumphs. She was the creator of her own life story and ours. She was an amazing woman