52 Ancestors Week 24: Artistic

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 24:

The theme for Week 24 is “Artistic.” Is there a painter, crafter, quilter, knitter, crocheter, or musician in the family? This is their week.

Art by the talented Becky Hopkins and was colored in by me!

    So many people in my family have been artistic in one way or another. I've already talked about how my grandfather Marco painted some pretty cool paintings. I have a second cousin who is an actor. I may have even mentioned my own webcomic in this blog once or twice. This is only a few examples of how artistic my family can be. While drawing and acting are great talents to have. I think it's about time I tossed in some music. Ready? Blues riff in B. Watch me for the changes and try to keep up.

    I don't know if my great-grandfather Vincenzo ever played a musical instrument. He did have a great singing voice according to my mother, though. Whenever she would visit him or he'd visit, Vincenzo would actually sing to her in Italian. Now, I have no idea what he was singing or if she even knew. What I can tell you is that Vincenzo's singing was just a small part of my family's appreciation of music.

   On my father's maternal side, his cousin Joe Villanucci was also musically inclined. When he the cousins were growing up, they would play music together. Was Vincenzo the front man for the group? Probably not. No. 

    Still, they had pretty good songs from what I've been told and later Joe himself became a music teacher. He even played local gigs in Haverhill, Salisbury and other places around the Merrimack Valley. He actually taught me how to play the piano as that was his instrument of choice. I'm getting a little ahead of myself. There's more to this musical story about Joe and my father!

    When I was looking for articles about my family, I happened upon this gem from the Newburyport Daily News.

    I might have talked about this article before. This comes to us from the Newburyport Daily News on July 12th, 1962. In the picture we see Joe tickling the ivories while his brother Dennis plays the guitar. In the background, my father watches. The caption said that my dad was "playing it cool" while his cousins played their instruments.

    The small group played for the motel Joe's father Arnold and my grandfather owned. I'm not sure how big the crowds were at the Colonial Arms motel. But, it was cool that they played for the people there. You gotta love good live entertainment and I'm sire my grandfather and Arnold paid them well for their services. I mean they had an in-house band that was related to them. What could go wrong?

    The music continued well after my brother and I came around. Our father was and still is a huge fan of classic rock. He's a huge fan of the Beach Boys and this is a huge contrast to the type of music my brother and I listen to. While my dad was all about classic rock, we were very much influenced by the music we grew up listening to. And that's normal. I just wish I had some musical skills. As it is, I can only do "Rock Band"/"Guitar Hero" on easy mode.

Still playing it cool, Dad?

   My brother and I learned to play piano from Joe and every time we visited him I'd always play the piano. Was I good? I don't know. The the most I was ever able to do was "Stairway to Heaven" or "Chopsticks". Just basic stuff. I was never Elton John or anything like that.

     It's just as well, I suppose. Everyone has their own specific artistic skill. Some people draw. Some people sing. Some people act. Whatever the case is, it's clear to see that my family has many artists running around the tree making music or drawing.

    It would be nice to carry a tune, though. And hey. It never hurts to try! I was surrounded by music and got a great appreciation for the art style as a result!

See ya next time!

52 Ancestors #23: Wedding Bells

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 23:

The theme for Week 23 is "Wedding Bells." Do you have a favorite ancestral wedding photo? What about an ancestor who heard wedding bells multiple times?

DING.....DONG!

    Amy sure has a way of timing these prompts just right. Not only is today my grandfather Bob's birthday. Today is also my grandparents' Bob and Natalie's  77th wedding anniversary! My grandmother always said that they picked that date so he'd never forget. Smart woman! We do have several pics from their wedding in our archives. Join me as we take a trip to Haverhill, Massachusetts on June 5th 1948!

Look at this motley crew.

    This picture is probably one of my favorite pictures from their wedding because not only is my great-grandfather Austin there along with the other Felkers. There's a story that goes with the dresses the ladies all wore. Rather than buying all of the dresses, my grandmother and her sisters handmade each dress and the accessories that went with them. Nana had serious stitching skills. Unfortunately, that meant that each of her ten grandkids got wooly sweaters for Christmas every year. Man, they itched....

    I digress. I can also identify everyone in the picture, too. In the front from left to right we have Natalie's sister, Dorothea, Dorothea's daughter Brenda and Natalie's sister Eleanor. In the back, we have from left to right my grandfather's uncle Donald Laplante, his brother Alfred Hamel, my grandparents Bob and Natalie, Natalie's sister Elaine, my great-grandfather Austin and my grandmother's brother Norman.

    Whew. That's quite a crew.  Everyone's all dressed to the nines and looking quite spiffy. If Gentlemen's Warehouse was around in the 1940s, I'd say they'd like the way they looked. I guarantee it.  It's a great picture and even though I could colorize it, I've never bothered to because I think we have a color version of this picture somewhere. It's a priceless gem like this next photo.

    I have a feeling this picture was taken after the ceremony. My grandfather's wearing the same tux he had on in the wedding party photo. My grandmother wisely changed out of her dress and put something that was a bit more comfortable on. Let's face it. Late spring in Massachusetts gets pretty muggy and there is no way my grandmother was going to party in that hot dress for a long time. She wouldn't have made it past the DJ playing the chicken dance song.

    Nah. I doubt they had the chicken dance at their wedding. They had style. They had class. And the fact that the song wasn't written then. John Phillip Sousa on the other hand? That would be a "Yes". My grandfather was a HUGE fan of his work.  He collected everything John Phillip Sousa ever wrote. What can I say? My grandfather had great taste in music.

    Though, I am a bit curious about why he kept VHS copies of "Golf's Funniest Moments" lingering around for decades. He had great taste in music. But, he kept a lot of weird stuff.

    It was very cool how both of my grandparents included all of their siblings in the wedding. The ones in the wedding party weren't the only ones helping out. Nope. All of their brothers and sisters participated in one way or another. Some of them handled the flowers. Some of them helped with the tuxes. It was pretty clear that both families worked together to give Bob and Natalie the wedding of their dreams. 

    I do wish that I had more pictures from the wedding. There might be more of them in the boxes my aunt gave me in 2020. There are albums there and I haven't gotten through everything. Once I have some time, I'll be sure to check it out. For now I have these two great gems in my collection.

    All in all these wedding pictures are fantastic. My grandparents obviously had no idea that their marriage would produce six children and that those kids would give them ten grandchildren and eventually many great-grandchildren. It's quite a legacy that got its start on one late spring day in 1948. Happy anniversary, Nana and Papa!

And I'll see you all next time!