LEVINE:

OK. Today is April 26, 1999 and I'm here in Ohio. And I'm here with Anna Roberto. And her son Nick Roberto is here with us. And I'm talking with Anna who came in 1920 through Ellis Island when she was twenty one years of age.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Had a life.

LEVINE:

(laughs) And this is Janet Levine for the National Park Service. Now if you would start in the beginning - do you remember the little town of Campora where you were born?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. I was pretty good big.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. It was pretty big?

ROBERTO:

Big.

LEVINE:

Yeah?

ROBERTO:

You

LEVINE:

What do you remember about it?

ROBERTO:

Well - is some thing year as small.

LEVINE:

When you think of you little town of Campora

ROBERTO:

Campora (accents the first "a") - Campora

LEVINE:

Campora - Campora - When you think of it what do you think about?

ROBERTO:

Well it was big enough when I think about - but I don't know [not understood] think about. [not understood] younger one - thinking 'bout - nothing.

LEVINE:

Well what did you do there? What do you remember?

ROBERTO:

Well I was like a - like a farm eola [ph] - you know.

LEVINE:

You were like a farmer. What were you raising? What kinds of things were you growing?

ROBERTO:

Well - a lot of stuff.

LEVINE:

What?

ROBERTO:

Well where I've had done hay. What I've had [not understood] Italy. That's what I plant.

LEVINE:

You wanted to plant?

ROBERTO:

Plant. Yeah. Every year.

LEVINE:

What would you plant?

ROBERTO:

Tomatoes. You know a lot of thing.

LEVINE:

Did you father had a farm?

ROBERTO:

Yeah that's what he had. That's what he do. It's what he know.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh. And what - no?

NICK:

She's probably mixing up what's from here.

LEVINE:

Oh oh from here? And then when you came here you farmed too - you planted?

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Oh yeah. What I like - what I love most was sell - you know.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. What was your father's name?

ROBERTO:

Antonio.

LEVINE:

Antonio. And you remember when you were a little girl in Italy?

ROBERTO:

Well - [not understood] - I remember him. [not understood] slave - slave - you know. [not understood] all the time.

NICK:

Like a slave.

LEVINE:

You worked like a slave huh (laughs) - uh huh.

ROBERTO:

(laughs)

LEVINE:

How was he to you? Was he

ROBERTO:

Oh I like the work.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Oh I like.

LEVINE:

Did you have a lot of brothers and sisters?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

In Italy?

ROBERTO:

Yeah. I had bro -- brother and sister.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

No sister. Five brothers.

LEVINE:

Five brothers? You remember your

ROBERTO:

It's what I remember.

LEVINE:

You remember your five brothers?

ROBERTO:

Five girl was some.

NICK:

No. She's talking about her family now.

LEVINE:

Oh OK. But when you were a little girl - were you a little girl in Italy?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

Do you have brothers?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

Do you have two older brothers? Yeah? You remember them?

ROBERTO:

I - I remember - I - I had to watch 'em.

LEVINE:

(laughs) You had to watch them? How come?

ROBERTO:

(laughs) Well because I go on his road - you - you know - you - you do the things right -- [not understood] supposed to.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. What were your brothers' names? Do you remember t them?

ROBERTO:

Well I had to put five brote.

LEVINE:

Five brothers? Uh huh. Uh huh. Were you the oldest one?

ROBERTO:

I think so.

LEVINE:

No?

NICK:

She had [not understood]

ROBERTO:

I think so. I had la old - la oldest one

NICK:

Two older brothers and I think the rest were younger.

LEVINE:

You remember the oldest brother? You remember your oldest brother?

ROBERTO:

Well - I had - I had - five boo - five brothers.

NICK:

Digilormo [ph]

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

NICK:

Digilormo [ph] Antonio.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Yeah. I remember - I remember that two - I don't know all one - take care of me too.

LEVINE:

They took care of you?

ROBERTO:

(laughs)

LEVINE:

Where would go? Would you go to church with them?

ROBERTO:

Oh um hum. A lot of time we go on a church or two.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh. And how about your mother - you remember your mother from when you were a little girl?

ROBERTO:

Ah my mom. My mama died right away.

LEVINE:

You were a little girl when your mother died?

ROBERTO:

I don't know where I big. Well 'cause I understanding everything - go - now you know - but

LEVINE:

Is that - is that

NICK:

She died when - she was over here.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

Probably during - we don't really know - probably nineteen thirty some time.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. What was your mother like? Could you describe your mother? What kind of a lady was your mother?

ROBERTO:

Oh. [not understood] good lady.

LEVINE:

A good lady? Yeah?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

How do you remember her?

ROBERTO:

Her a big

LEVINE:

She's a big

ROBERTO:

Her a big [not understood] - going to school - taking care of me

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. [not understood] - everything ahead

LEVINE:

Um hum. Do you remember her cooking things?

ROBERTO:

Well - you know Italiano - not really very very good stuff - but

LEVINE:

You mean you were hungry?

ROBERTO:

No. No.

LEVINE:

No. What do you remember eating?

ROBERTO:

Because work [not understood] all the time - work all the time - raising everything you want - eat - eat.

LEVINE:

What did you raise that you ate?

ROBERTO:

What is - some time - a plant it by myself. I starving. Oh yeah - you live pretty good.

NICK:

Tell her about the castagnes [chestnuts] you went to pick - in the mountains.

ROBERTO:

Well I don't remember great good.

LEVINE:

Did you go to the mountains?

ROBERTO:

Because of the [not understood] - the [not understood] a lot of time - work work - raise it.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. And did you go to the mountains?

ROBERTO:

No. Not really. Because

NICK:

They went for chestnuts. They didn't have nothing around the village. They went out of the village to…

ROBERTO:

Huh. He never no - no car.

LEVINE:

No cars. No.

ROBERTO:

I work a lot of time.

LEVINE:

Do you remember picking chestnuts?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. I pick the chestnuts. I bring them on head.

LEVINE:

On your head? You brought them down from the mountains?

ROBERTO:

No. I bring them - I go pick on the day but I bring them home.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. And then what?

ROBERTO:

To sell them. (laughs)

LEVINE:

To sell them? Uh huh. Did you have a market day? What there a day when there was a market?

ROBERTO:

I had amor better. He died too.

LEVINE:

What about the pigs. Did you raise pigs?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. That's where I watch all the time.

LEVINE:

You watched the pigs?

ROBERTO:

Um hum.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. What would they do? What did you have to watch for?

ROBERTO:

Well I just - I just - bring them around - eating that's all.

LEVINE:

Do you re

ROBERTO:

Oh I work like a [not understood] (both laugh)

LEVINE:

Did your mother cook the pigs - the pork?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. He cook everything you want.

LEVINE:

Um hum. Um hum.

ROBERTO:

Italiano all is a - you know - what you had - eat.

LEVINE:

What you raise you eat.

ROBERTO:

Work - yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh. And you said you went to school?

ROBERTO:

I went to school. Yeah. My mama send me to school.

LEVINE:

Um hum. And what was that like? Was is a little school?

ROBERTO:

Well you learn they learn.

LEVINE:

You learn - uh huh.

ROBERTO:

You learn what you 'wanna be.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Was the school teacher strict?

ROBERTO:

Yes. Yes. Was la school teacher just for that purpose. K teach.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

I know her name. Rona Fonzini [ph] was - was her teacher.

LEVINE:

Le italia - le italiana [not understood]

LEVINE:

You remember your teacher?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

Rona?

ROBERTO:

Rona Fonzini.

LEVINE:

(laughs) How do you remember that?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

What do you remember about - that teacher?

ROBERTO:

Well I don't know. Some time a thing go in your head and stay in your head.

LEVINE:

(laughs)

NICK:

You remember she praised you through your writing one time - that you wrote really good -- do you remember that?

ROBERTO:

Hum. I - I -- you know I

LEVINE:

She said that you could write very - well

ROBERTO:

You know I forget - a lot of thing. I was writing good.

LEVINE:

You write - uh huh.

ROBERTO:

[not understood] - you know - long time - you forget.

LEVINE:

Yeah. Right. But - when you close your eyes and you imagine being in Italy in your little town - village - what do you think of? What do you see?

ROBERTO:

Was - was a lot a - a lot a - a lot a - you know - [not understood] (laughs)

LEVINE:

OK (laughs)

ROBERTO:

You know - you know - a lot of thing

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh.

NICK:

Her - her brother Miguele [ph] was captured in the first World War and she wrote - wrote to him because she was the only one [not understood] LEVINE: Oh - uh huh.

ROBERTO:

[not understood]

LEVINE:

You remember your brother Miguele going to war? You remember when your brother went to war?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

And what happened?

ROBERTO:

Well - I had - I had three four boy but [not understood] nothing. He went easy. She remembered it right. (laughs)

LEVINE:

And did you write to him?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. I write. I know - I know [not understood]. I remember a lot of thing - mana [ph].

LEVINE:

Um hum. Did your father come to America?

ROBERTO:

No.

LEVINE:

No - he never came here.

ROBERTO:

No. I didn't know a little bit [not understood] - I had a mama [not understood]

LEVINE:

So how did you meet your husband?

ROBERTO:

Well - Italy.

LEVINE:

In Italy?

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

Was he from the same town?

ROBERTO:

Yeah. I had a good man. He was a good man. He work in a farm.

LEVINE:

Um hum.

NICK:

I think this. My dad's sister was a friend of hers.

LEVINE:

Were you a friend of your husband's sister?

ROBERTO:

Oh. Had a lot of - I know a lot of friends already.

LEVINE:

You had a lot of friends.

NICK:

Rosina.

ROBERTO:

Huh?

NICK:

Rosina Roberto - you remember her?

ROBERTO:

Well I know - I

NICK:

[not understood] sister

ROBERTO:

Not - not much - ago because I think everybody busy.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. But you had a friend named Rosina?

ROBERTO:

Ah a lot of friends - yeah.

LEVINE:

A lot of friends.

ROBERTO:

I had a lot of friends.

LEVINE:

Do you remember meeting your husband? 'Member when you met him?

ROBERTO:

Well - he work in the night and day - night and day workin'! So busy! He know about it.

LEVINE:

What was his name?

ROBERTO:

Well - you -- you know - he had to work a lot - an adult.

LEVINE:

But what was name - your husband?

ROBERTO:

Oh. My - my brother [not understood] husband - and I wait - I never waited below [not understood]

NICK:

Dominico.

LEVINE:

Dominico.

ROBERTO:

Hum. Hum.

LEVINE:

was your husband's name.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

You remember when you first met him?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

And did you like him right away? Did you like him when you first met him?

ROBERTO:

Well - you know - he was all the time - home.

LEVINE:

He was all the time home?

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

Didn't he come to this country? He came to America?

ROBERTO:

No no. He was over there - yet - yet.

NICK:

She didn't know him when he - when he did the first time.

LEVINE:

Yeah. And he came - he was in Italy and you met. You fell in love and you got married?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah? Do you remember when you got married? You remember your wedding?

ROBERTO:

Ah - me stupid.

LEVINE:

Mistuve?

ROBERTO:

(laughs)

NICK:

April. You got married in April.

ROBERTO:

Well - she know - I don't remember that.

LEVINE:

You don't remember the wedding. And then - do you remember when it was decided you were coming to America?

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Yeah.

LEVINE:

How did you feel about it? Did you want to come?

ROBERTO:

Well - I - I like it - [not understood] myself - I wanted to go - any place - I had to go. I wanted - I want to learn.

LEVINE:

So it must have been exciting

ROBERTO:

(laughs) Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

to go all across the ocean

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah

LEVINE:

to a new country?

ROBERTO:

Sure - remember it right - I had to remember a lot of thing.

LEVINE:

So - do you remember packing? Do you remember packing up to leave to go with your husband?

ROBERTO:

Yeah yeah. I remember.

LEVINE:

Do you remember saying goodbye to everybody - goodbye to your family?

ROBERTO:

Everybody wanted to help.

LEVINE:

Did anybody else in your family come to America? Did your brothers come?

ROBERTO:

Yeah. [not understood] had the brother [not understood].

LEVINE:

Brothers came?

NICK:

Brothers were already here.

LEVINE:

Oh. Two of your brothers were in America when you came with your husband?

ROBERTO:

I not remember - too - clearly.

LEVINE:

That's OK. Whatever you remember -- do you remember anything you brought with you - anything you took with you when you came to America?

ROBERTO:

He never come because - [not understood] busy - [not understood] busy [not understood] - you know. He had to have a job. He had to have a - and me had to have a job too. (laughs)

LEVINE:

Do you remember when you went to the port - to get the ship?

ROBERTO:

I - remember some of it - [not understood] map.

LEVINE:

How about when you were on the ship - the Regina D'Italia?

ROBERTO:

La Regina D'Italia.

LEVINE:

Did you

ROBERTO:

La [not understood] - I remember that.

LEVINE:

OK what do you remember about the voyage - when the ship was coming across the ocean.

ROBERTO:

Well - I don't know [not understood] - what I want to say - see.

LEVINE:

Was the ship crowded?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah - they had a full.

LEVINE:

It was full?

ROBERTO:

They had a full.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. And how about the food? Do you remember?

ROBERTO:

Yeah the food were pretty good.

LEVINE:

Pretty good?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah?

ROBERTO:

[not understood]

LEVINE:

Did any

NICK:

She was sick most of the time.

LEVINE:

Did you feel sick when you were on the sea?

ROBERTO:

Me - I feel good the whole time.

LEVINE:

(laughs) Were other people sick?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

(laughs) [not understood]

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah -- so many people [not understood]

NICK:

[not understood]

LEVINE:

Was there anything else about the voyage - anything else about that trip on the ship that you remember?

ROBERTO:

I - I - everything alright.

LEVINE:

It was alright?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Well you were young and you were just married.

ROBERTO:

Well

LEVINE:

You were probably looking forward to being in America.

ROBERTO:

Yeah - might be - might be [not understood]. (laughs)

NICK:

She remembered seeing the porpoises jumping.

LEVINE:

Did you remember seeing the fish - the porpoises jumping out of the water?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. I remember [not understood] jump - jump on like a [not understood]

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

(laughs) Ah. That's all new.

LEVINE:

It was all new to you.

ROBERTO:

It's all new.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. And then do you remember when the ship came in to the New York harbor? Remember the Statue of Liberty - did you see the Statue of Liberty?

ROBERTO:

I no remember that.

LEVINE:

You don't remember that. Do you remember when you went to Ellis Island? A great big place - lots of people - the noise?

ROBERTO:

Ah - maybe - I don't know why - I forget a lot of thing.

LEVINE:

That's OK. Where did you go then - after you came to this country - you and your husband - where did you go? Where did you settle down?

ROBERTO:

Ah - finding work around here.

LEVINE:

You came to Ohio?

NICK:

She went to Morgantown [not understood] where her brothers were.

ROBERTO:

No - work around here.

LEVINE:

Oh. But first didn't you go see your brothers?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. I seen them before.

LEVINE:

But when you came to this country - you went to visit with your brothers

ROBERTO:

I [not understood] - I [not understood]

LEVINE:

in West Virginia?

ROBERTO:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah?

ROBERTO:

I no forget my brothers?

LEVINE:

How did your brothers look to you? Did they look different?

ROBERTO:

Look good guy.

LEVINE:

Good guy? (both laugh) Did they look different from when they were in Italy?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. Oh yeah - dress up pretty good.

LEVINE:

They dressed different? Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Oh. Oh yeah. And then - le brother - they find a job - over here - in America.

LEVINE:

What kind of job did he find?

ROBERTO:

Well - you know - [not understood] - shop work.

LEVINE:

Shop work?

ROBERTO:

Shop - shop - [not understood] have a work. I work [not understood].

LEVINE:

Work - or [not understood]

ROBERTO:

Yeah. So find a job - like that.

LEVINE:

In West Virginia did he work?

ROBERTO:

Yeah - wherever you go - whatever you go [not understood] job - [not understood] start.

LEVINE:

Yeah. Anything to start. Right.

NICK:

Brothers weren't there - they went to Aliquippa, Pennsylvania to work in the steel mills. So then they went there. He worked there for a while.

LEVINE:

In a steel mill?

NICK:

But he didn't like it.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

So - he came to Ohio.

LEVINE:

I see.

ROBERTO:

No.

LEVINE:

So do you remember when your husband worked in the steel mill - in Pennsylvania?

ROBERTO:

I don't know - I don't think he come there.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. And then you remember you came to Ohio and where you settled down - here.

ROBERTO:

I no remember. So stupid. (laughs)

NICK:

In New Milford.

LEVINE:

New Milford, Ohio.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

New Milford, Ohio. Do you know why - they came to Ohio?

NICK:

We had - my dad had a relative here - Ecspezito [ph] - he lived in New Milford.

LEVINE:

I see. So - then

NICK:

That's where he came the first time in 1913 when he first came here.

LEVINE:

Oh. Uh huh. I see 'cause your husband had been here - before.

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

He went back to Italy [not understood]

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. He was all over - he was all over - he had job what he want.

LEVINE:

What was you husband like? What kind of a man was he?

ROBERTO:

I had a good man.

LEVINE:

A good man?

ROBERTO:

A good man - honest - good man.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. So then when you came here - did you farm?

ROBERTO:

Well

LEVINE:

Did you farm?

ROBERTO:

You know - I - I

NICK:

At first in the villa there wasn't very much

ROBERTO:

I find a

NICK:

land there in nineteen

ROBERTO:

[not understood] job

NICK:

1931 he moved to Peck Road which is a farm.

LEVINE:

I see.

NICK:

He lived there.

ROBERTO:

A lot of work.

LEVINE:

A lot of work. Did you help with the farm?

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah - the best I could.

NICK:

Tell her how much you canned on Peck Road - remember canning?

ROBERTO:

(laughs)

NICK:

Five hundred quarts?

ROBERTO:

Five hundred quarts I canned in one time.

LEVINE:

What was it - what did you can?

ROBERTO:

Well - I had beans - you know - lot of - lot of thing I canned.

LEVINE:

Five hundred quarts.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

Wow.

ROBERTO:

You want to see my cell - full of - jars.

LEVINE:

Jars - uh huh. Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah. Because I - I was used to - I canned and I - not sit down. (laughs)

LEVINE:

Wow. And how many children did you have?

ROBERTO:

Well I got - I had - I canned peas - peas - you know the peas.

LEVINE:

Peas?

ROBERTO:

Fruit - fruit.

LEVINE:

Oh.

ROBERTO:

Peaches.

LEVINE:

Oh you canned these? You canned peaches?

ROBERTO:

Oh - canned - canned. Five hundred quarts in one day.

LEVINE:

That's a lot.

ROBERTO:

One time. Well I was used to - yeah I was used - used to.

LEVINE:

Well you had a lot of children. You had to have a lot of food for the winter.

ROBERTO:

Ah not to much [not understood]

NICK:

There weren't any refrigerators or freezers.

LEVINE:

You didn't have a refrigerator or a freezer.

ROBERTO:

Well I think I could have had - I had one.

NICK:

Later - but not then.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Ah.

LEVINE:

So do you remember when you had your first child?

ROBERTO:

No. He stupid. (both laugh)

LEVINE:

How many children did you have?

ROBERTO:

Nine.

LEVINE:

That's a lot. No wonder you were so busy.

ROBERTO:

Well heck yeah.

LEVINE:

You had to work so hard.

ROBERTO:

It's how I keep busy - [not understood] (laughs)

LEVINE:

Nine children - wow.

ROBERTO:

Heck yeah. And I work and I [not understood]

NICK:

[not understood]

LEVINE:

It was her first?

NICK:

[not understood]

ROBERTO:

Yeah I had - not door big enough for it - to do what you wanted. And then - then I find a job by myself.

LEVINE:

You found a job yourself?

ROBERTO:

Um hum.

LEVINE:

What kind of job?

ROBERTO:

Ah. Italian wasn't a - [not understood] - but work too.

NICK:

In 1943 he started the wool mill - remember?

ROBERTO:

Yeah well - I no remember any day.

LEVINE:

Yeah. But tell what you did. A woolen mill?

ROBERTO:

A wool mill.

LEVINE:

And what did you do?

ROBERTO:

Machinery.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

I thread. (laughs)

NICK:

She ran the thread.

LEVINE:

You ran the thread through the machine - uh huh.

ROBERTO:

I alone - pretty - pretty good myself.

LEVINE:

Wow.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Yeah.

NICK:

She worked thirteen years.

LEVINE:

You worked thirteen years?

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

in the woolen?

ROBERTO:

I work. I work.

LEVINE:

Cleveland Worsted Mill - in Revenna.

ROBERTO:

And I good - I was a good one.

LEVINE:

You were a good worker.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

NICK:

They liquidated in fifty five I think so she was still [not understood] (Nick and Levine laugh)

LEVINE:

So if the mill hadn't closed in 1955 you would still be working there.

ROBERTO:

Heck yeah. (Levine laughs) I work - I work. I not a loaf.

LEVINE:

No. No.

ROBERTO:

No.

LEVINE:

No.

ROBERTO:

Nope. She didn't - she - she feel like - the worker - you 'gotta work.

LEVINE:

Everybody felt they had to work - work hard.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

Is she allergic to bee?

NICK:

They won't hurt her.

LEVINE:

So you had nine children.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

LEVINE:

Now do you have grandchildren and great grandchildren?

ROBERTO:

Well I got a lot now.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

ROBERTO:

(laughs)

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Yeah. Nine kid.

NICK:

She doesn't know how many she has.

LEVINE:

You lost track of how many you have - you have so many huh?

ROBERTO:

I got too many - and everything about - I get - I get along pretty - pretty nice.

LEVINE:

Now - when you look back are you happy you came to America?

ROBERTO:

Oh - I was happy.

LEVINE:

You were happy?

ROBERTO:

I was happy.

LEVINE:

You were happy?

ROBERTO:

Yeah I was happy.

LEVINE:

Even though you were working so hard - you were still happy.

ROBERTO:

Oh. I like work.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

See you like some - I used to - work. No loaf.

LEVINE:

Did you ever go back and visit - in Italy - did you ever go back?

ROBERTO:

Well I never had too much money - [not understood] (laughs)

NICK:

She never went back. Her brother visited there. Uh huh.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

I keep good la money. I keep good la money. I no go out or [not understood].

NICK:

They never had any land. My dad always said if you had this land in Italy - you probably would've never left.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

If you had had this land.

ROBERTO:

I [not understood] garden.

LEVINE:

You planted strawberries.

ROBERTO:

Plant strawberry. [not understood] plant potatoes. Plant what you use.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

Oh I had to work. Sometime I shop - I shop - myself - adult. I had to work a lot [not understood].

LEVINE:

Did you know a lot of people around Ravenna who had come from Italy?

ROBERTO:

Well - I see [not understood] - a lot of people there.

LEVINE:

Did you go places and dance and have music - did you remember doing that here in Ohio?

ROBERTO:

Well - he help each other a bit - you 'gotta help urself.

LEVINE:

You 'gotta help yourself.

ROBERTO:

Hum.

NICK:

She didn't get out very much.

ROBERTO:

Some - somebody - maybe no like the work or something. But me I like the work.

LEVINE:

Well you - you must have worked especially hard because your husband died in 1961. Right?

ROBERTO:

Well I no remember that.

LEVINE:

And then you had - you still had children at home - children at home?

ROBERTO:

Heck yes.

LEVINE:

No?

NICK:

My sister - my sister is the youngest.

ROBERTO:

I no big enough that I know - [not understood]

NICK:

[not understood] retire and move to Florida. 'Cause my dad had a brother down there in Tampa. [not understood]

ROBERTO:

Then I work.

LEVINE:

That when - no - your mother went to work in the woolen mill before that.

NICK:

Right. This was sixty one and - worked on the farm and he was 'gonna sell the farm and - retire - but then he died.

ROBERTO:

I had - I had a lot - a lot of work to do. I keep a job too.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

NICK:

In sixty three - we put a trailer over here. My brother bought this house. She lived in a trailer - by herself.

LEVINE:

Oh.

NICK:

'Til ninety four when I bought the place back from my sister in law and then she moved back in here - and got rid of the trailer.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. So now you're back in the house you used to be in - with your son. Now you live where you used to live.

ROBERTO:

Well - I don't know what I did - but I did. (laughs) I got to remember where I

LEVINE:

What's your life like now - now that you're a hundred years old.

ROBERTO:

Oh I love [not understood]

LEVINE:

You love it?

ROBERTO:

I love it.

LEVINE:

Uh huh. Well it's beautiful. It's a beautiful place.

ROBERTO:

I - I - I got work to do - in the farm - you know. Whatever you want - the best one. (laughs)

LEVINE:

You like to watch the birds.

ROBERTO:

Oh yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh huh.

ROBERTO:

I like [not understood]. I like everything here.

LEVINE:

You do? Yeah.

NICK:

You don't shovel dirt anymore. You're retired.

LEVINE:

You're retired now.

ROBERTO:

Ah. I like - I like everything.

LEVINE:

What is not to like - it's very beautiful isn't it.

ROBERTO:

Yes. Yes. I planned what I want to come - then I piece it together - and then I make it - so nice - house right here. I put everything in it. You 'gotta do some.

LEVINE:

You have a lot to be proud of - the hard work you did all those years.

ROBERTO:

I work night and day.

LEVINE:

Yeah. Yeah.

ROBERTO:

I like the work.

LEVINE:

Do you remember any of the songs that you used to sing when you were a little girl in Italy?

ROBERTO:

Well yeah.

LEVINE:

Could you sing something? Something that you remember from when you were a little girl.

ROBERTO:

I not remember anything.

LEVINE:

You don't remember any of those little songs you sang?

ROBERTO:

I go in the garden all the time. Le call it in the garden - what you want to do.

LEVINE:

Hum.

ROBERTO:

[not understood] was a lot. A job [not understood] too. I work. I no remember sometimes - [not understood].

LEVINE:

Well - you remember a lot. Is there anything else that you 'wanna talk about that you can remember from your life time?

ROBERTO:

You know - you get the - le - le boy - he had the work to do. He never - he never get to lose - workin' all the time - he no got the time - you horsin' around. You 'gotta work - you 'gotta work. And me too. Well - that's [not understood] ago.

LEVINE:

Long time ago.

ROBERTO:

Hum. You 'gotta have a job - whatever it is - and you 'gotta work. All [not understood] - oh - le lamore [ph] - you 'gotta work - pay - live. Yeah - yeah I pass my day. I pass my day and I will die. (laughs)

LEVINE:

OK. ROBERTO: That's la moon [not understood] - that's la life come and go. [not understood] better job - whole - I work - I eat - I live!

LEVINE:

OK. I think we're 'gonna close here. I'm speaking with Anna Roberto who came here in 1920 at the age of twenty one - from Italy - and is a hundred years old - at the time of this interview on April 26, 1999. And this is Janet Levine from the National Park Service. And I'm signing off. END OF INTERVIEW