The Igobello Family: An American Dream

By Frank Igobello

I believe people learn best through the experiences of others as well as their own failures and successes. I am a lucky and great man. Why? Because in my lifetime I have traveled the world full of love. I have suffered, and I have worked hard, but most importantly, I have learned to listen—and with that, I have learned various important lessons. In my life, with the help of others around me, I listened to God’s call for me to join him on a journey. This journey is based on faith, love, and trust. Now, it is my turn to tell you my stories, the facts of my life. I promise you will learn more than you have been taught in any history classroom. My knowledge of the American dream and listing my struggles and successes will teach you about making your own dreams come true. You should always be filled with faith, love, and trust.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Archway Publishing
• Release date: Mar 19, 2020
• ISBN: 9781480887695

Frank Igobello

Mr. Frank Igobello is a man who tells a story like no other. His detailed accounts of a move from his hometown in Italy to America create a beautiful picture of what it was like to pursue the American Dream. The story shares romance, danger, and above all, the power of love and family. Frank is a natural born leader and a man who values the old school ways of respect, loyalty and persistence and those character traits remain strongly with him today.

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Copyright © 2020 Frank Igobello.

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ISBN: 978-1-4808-8768-8 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4808-8769-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020904677

Archway Publishing rev. date: 3/19/2020

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Good morning. My name is Frank Igobello; Franco Igobello in Italy. In America, my name is Frank Igobello. Write on a subject you love? True stories. I am not a ghostwriter, not a book editor, nor a book publisher, but I am full of information that I can provide about beautiful stories of love, family, romance, adventure, and business. My personal look at life, with God’s help, is a dream.

I believe people learn best through the experiences of others as well as their own failures and successes. I am a lucky and great man. Why? Because in my lifetime I have traveled the world full of love. I have suffered, and I have worked hard, but most importantly, I have learned to listen—and with that, I have learned various important lessons. In my life, with the help of others around me, I listened to God’s call for me to join him on a journey. This journey is based on faith, love, and trust. Now, it is my turn to tell you my stories, the facts of my life. I promise you will learn more than you have been taught in any history classroom. My knowledge of the American dream and listing my struggles and successes will teach you about making your own dreams come true. You should always be filled with faith, love, and trust. My heritage is one that I am proud of.

I would like to share all of it with you. I am one of five children created by my beautiful parents, Lorenzo Igobello and Chiara Igobello. My father was a very smart man. He was sincere, honest, and full of life; people loved his qualities. I remember my father’s look; it was an expression of love. He was famous for his golden hands. My mother was a beautiful, quiet, simple woman, who cared most about the love of our family. I remember my mother. She was such a good person with long, black hair. She was always involved with cooking and making my favorite meal of pasta polenta. My mother also sewed and took care of the cleaning. She had five children. As I mentioned before, my father was a very good person, and his experience in life allowed him to be a diesel mechanic with golden hands. When there was a problem, everything he touched miraculously turned good. As I say, my father was very good with whatever he was doing. I knew early on that everything I did was because of my father.

This story is about a father and son and the American dream. We were not businessmen, but we wanted to own a business. We dreamed of riches and support in our loved ones. I suppose you could say that we expressed our love for the family through our ambitions and dreams. My story begins in Italy. Life in Italy was simple, but maybe I felt that way because I was raised in a typical Italian home. My mother tended to the house and children. She would feed us our favorite meals, pasta and polenta, and whatever she could make. She would sew our clothes. My mother was a beautiful, quiet, simple woman. Our home was always filled with people. In a small town like mine, we all helped one another.

Our family name was Igobello. My parents were Chiara Igobello and Lorenzo Igobello. The family had five children. The first child was named Martina. The second, Filippo; third, Josephina. I (Frank) was the fourth child. My little brother was Francesco. In 1951, our lives changed when a young man, Stephano Sorento, from the United States Navy, visited Italy and met our family. Martina, my sister, was an attractive woman with many admirers in our small town. The romance began when Martina was visiting our aunt’s house and Mr. Sorento was visiting his uncle. Martina was making bread when the young man saw her and fell in love. Leaving Italy was not easy but Stephano and Martina left to begin their lives in America. My parents had difficulty adjusting to Martina living in America, but they were happy Martina was with Stephano and his family. After one year my sister Martina asked to bring my parents to America because she was lonely and missed our family. Lorenzo Igobello, my father—as you know—worked with the Italian government as the instructor of the motor pool. Hearing Martina’s request, my father requested early retirement in the government. My parents let Martina know that they were coming to America. My parents went to America and adjusted to American culture, and my brother Francesco and I remained in Italy to complete our education.

I received letters from my father explaining how hard it was to adjust to American culture, with one problem being the language. But they were happy to be with my sister Martina. My father found work at a body shop in New Jersey doing what he knew best, mechanical work. To commute from Brooklyn to New Jersey was very hard, so my parents moved to New Jersey. My mother found work at a school in New Jersey.

I have many fond memories of Italy. My teenage years have been the most memorable. I was busy with projects. I helped my father with his work. I taught a priest how to drive a car and do mechanical work. I drove around fathers, doctors, mayors, and VIP people as part of my car service. My father and I were able to do mechanical work. The side of the house was a garage and considered a repair shop. I also had a side business driving people on my Vespa. I took the school teacher to the farm because she had no transportation. I was a nice kid: quiet, responsible, respectable, good looking and all the people liked me. I remember Saint Joseph Day at the piazza. This was a big day for me. People gave me gifts, bought me clothes, and gave me money. I was very happy with my teenage life.

My first love involved two sisters. I got to know them when we were in school. We became sweethearts. We did homework together. Later I got to know the older sister and we had a long relationship that turned out to be very intimate. She was my first love. I was so in love much that I got really sick, and I had a bloody nose so I was unable to continue the relationship when I came to this country. I had a broken heart, but we will get to that later in the story. My broken heart was something that I will never forget the rest of my lifetime. I left Italy with a broken heart. By the way, the two sisters were the mayor’s daughters.

I must explain St. Valentine’s Day. My friends and I would never forget serenading our sweethearts with music and red roses. This was an evening with lots of love and feeling, and the neighbors would come out on the balcony and listen to the music. It was an evening with love and happiness for everyone. As my brother and I continued our schooling, our father asked us to learn English from