52 Ancestors Week 13: Sisters

 From Amy Johnson Crow: "Sisters, sisters, there were never such devoted sisters..." Any families made up of lots of sisters? Now is a great time to tell their story!

The "Little Old Italian Ladies"! (tm)

        The topic this week is "sisters" and I wish I had a biological sister to talk about as I just have my brother, Jim. His wife, Kathleen and the daughter of a family friend have always been the closest thing I ever had to a cool older sister. Sisters are amazing and there's one group of sisters I would like to talk about this week and an adventure I had with one of them. 

I really want to know where this
pic is from.

    Grandma Ollie's sisters have always been collectively known as "The little old Italian Ladies" to me and members of my family. The Carrabs sisters all lived very close to one another save for Josie who lived across the river in Bradford, Mass with her husband, Ugo Messa and their family. She was the cook in the family because she had the best recipes for almost every single Italian goodie you could think of! For example, her granddaughter has her recipe for a very good and mouthwatering eggplant parmesan! Oh, it's so good! The recipes must have been passed down from her mother, Clementina. I'll have to check my sources on that one! I have been informed that aunt Louise had them as well!

     Jennie was the oldest and I don't really remember her much as she passed away in 1984. But, that's okay. Everyone told me many stories about her and how she came to America with her parents, Giuseppe and Clementina. She lived with her husband, Joseph Zito in the house she grew up in on Bartlett Street. 

  That just leaves Eleanor and Louise and they all lived pretty close to my grandmother. We're talking a matter of blocks here. They were over each others' houses practically every day! Louise and her husband, Arnold Villanucci lived in her parents' old house on Bartlett Street. I remember visiting them and Aunt Ellie quite frequently and yes she cooked. They all loved to cook and entertain guests! It was so cool! She was also married to an Arnold!

     His name was Arnold Vaillancourt  and that Uncle Arnold called me "Superman" every time I saw him! I always laughed at that because even though I grew up watching the Christopher Reeve "Superman" movies, the Adam West "Batman" series and Lynda Carter "Wonder Woman" series, I was always a Marvel fanboy ever since I saw the cartoon "Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends". Still, it was cool being equated with the "Man of Steel" even if my favorite character is and always has been "Spider-Man". (Happy 60th anniversary, Spidey!)

  Nothing and I mean nothing would ever stop the sisters from getting together. Not even three feet of snow on the ground.  Their husbands all drove them everywhere since they didn't drive and they never seemed to mind. They even spent hours together at the same hairdresser!

Aunt Louise knew how to hustle.

    Now that I've given everyone a brief rundown on the sisters, it's time for my story. Gather 'round. This is gonna be pretty amazing!

    It all started in the early 2000s and I was in college. My grandma Ollie had just passed away and Aunt Ellie and Aunt Louise were the last living Carrabs sisters. I was a bit bummed because my grandma passed away and we were pretty close. One day my parents and I decided to take Aunt Louise to Foxwoods Casino for the day. Foxwoods casino is a resort/casino owned and operated by the Mashantucket Pequot Tribal Nation on their reservation in Mashantucket, Connecticut. 

    We picked up Louise one Wednesday afternoon and headed to Connecticut for some fun. On the way, my great-aunt asked me if I ever gambled before. I wasn't going to lie. I have been to casinos and I did go to Foxwoods once or twice in my life. Before that there was the adventures in the Bahamas. But, that's a story for another time! And trust me it's a good one!

     Aunt Louise told me her plan was to basically stick with the slots. I flat out told her that was kind of stereotypical for someone to use a slot machine all day. She said "Yeah, that's true. But, you make good money from it. I'll teach you some tricks." I look at my mother and she's laughing. This was going to be a fun day!

Slot machine gods, you vex me.

    We arrived at the casino and as we're walking Louise takes me aside and said to me "If anyone asks, you're my grandson and it's your birthday."

    We laughed so hard. It was just so random! Aunt Louise had the best sense of humor out of all the sisters even though my grandma Ollie came pretty close.  I think she knew I was still feeling a bit sad about the loss of my grandma that she just wanted to make me feel better.

   My parents made their way to the blackjack table as they were feeling pretty lucky. Louise took me by the hand and we headed over to the slot machines. I was no stranger to them as I once had a toy slot machine. We played for a bit and she told me what to watch out for when playing the slots. Things to look out for include:

1. People who hover and wait to steal your machine.

2. People who constantly look at you to see how you're doing. 

    These were all great tips and I asked her if I could use the machine she was using. She said to use the one next to her because it looked like a good machine. I asked her how she could tell. She said she just had a good feeling about it. I was like "Okay...."

    I admittedly had a slow start with the slot machine. I really wanted to try my hand at video poker. Louise told me those things just ate quarters. I asked her if it was like the arcades back home with their video games. She smiled. I wasn't sure if she got the reference. Seriously. The "X-Men" arcade game eats quarters like there's no tomorrow. But, it's so fun!

    I ended up spending twenty bucks and got maybe fifty total. I was getting a little frustrated and I went to use the bathroom. I needed a break. Lady luck wasn't with me that afternoon.

    When I came back, I couldn't find Aunt Louise! I panicked! How did I lose her?!  I was supposed to watch her and everything. I looked everywhere and I found her after a few minutes. The...jackpot noise kind of gave it away.

Meet me at Foxwoods.

    I laughed. Aunt Louise got about a hundred dollars worth of quarters on the machine I was using not ten minutes earlier! I learned a valuable lesson. Never leave your machine unguarded. Wow!

    Thankfully, she split some of her winnings with me because like I said Lady Luck left me a long time ago. We met my parents and had dinner at one of the resort's fine dining establishments. I don't remember what we had exactly but my father told me he did pretty well at blackjack. It's all we could have hoped for!

    Aunt Louise had a great time, too. She seemed content to just play the slots. That was fine. When you go to a casino, you do what you want to do as long as it's legal! The pit bosses will get mad if you try anything funny!

    All in all, it was a great trip with my great-aunt. We didn't really talk family history. That was okay because in the end she made me feel less sad about missing grandma Ollie. We talked about her for a little bit and we realized that she would have wanted all of us to have a good time and we did. The real icing on the cake would have been some of her famous cookies. That had to wait until Easter or the next family gettogether. 

    I admit I was very sad about losing my grandma and I think she knew that. Maybe that was why she palled around with me that day. She wanted me to feel better and she did everything she could to help. It worked! That's really all I ever wanted. It didn't matter if I won a lot at the slots or not. What mattered was that one of grandma Ollie's sisters was there for me and I'll always remember that for a very long time.

Still wish I did better on those one armed bandits, though.....

See ya next time!