Childhood
As a child, she often told of how much she enjoyed being sent by her father to fill the bottle with wine from the cellar : she told how she would fill the bottle, and happily drink the remaining drops as they fell from the spout of the demijohn. She also fondly remembered a family property in Monteverde, and how beautiful she found the view from among the olive trees grown there.
At the Colaricci house in Boiano, there was a moderate sized area paved with concrete, where field workers would gather to work the grain harvested from the field. Concetta told of how the people working on the grain would sing for hours on end as they worked.
She also told of her memory of the first electric light-bulb : it hung in a back porch area, and ( as she held up her pinky finger ) indicated how small it was, and that it gave off virtually no light.
Alessandro Patullo
Concetta married Alessandro Patullo against her father's wishes : Felice did not attend the wedding, and refused to speak with her for upwards of a year afterwards. ( see further story )
Nephews Frank and Mario Patullo
Alessandro Patullo had two nephews, sons of his brother Antonio and Filomena Amatuzio. Filomena dies in the early 1920s, leaving the children in the care of relatives on the Amatuzio side of the family ( Antonio Patullo was in the US at this time ). This was largely helped with the financial aid of the ( childless ) Francesco Amatuzio, who had become very wealthy in the United States with interests in banking and breweries.
Shortly after Concetta and Alessandro were married, and prior to the birth of their first child Carmine, the stock market crash of 1929 led to a collapse in the finances of Francesco Amatuzio. The finances supporting Frank & Mario's child-rearing ceased, and Concetta and Alessandro took in Alessandro's nephews, Frank and Mario, raising them with their own children. ( See Letter from Antonio to Alessandro Patullo )
Alessandro's death
By the middle of the Second World War Alessandro's died, likely of lung cancer. Their youngest son, Tony, was born just shortly before Alessandro's death. A description of Alessandro's final months was given in a letter from Concetta to Alessandro's sister, Giusepina. So, at 35 years of age, Concetta suddenly found herself at the head of a household with 9 people in it: in addition to 6 children of their own, including a newborn, nephews Frank and Mario were still living with the family, as well as Alessandro's mother Teresa Mainella. Teresa Mainella suffered from some nervous disorder, and was partially paralyzed. Concetta told of sleeping with Teresa in her room, getting up at night to help turn her in her bed.
Move to Canada
In the early 1950s, her eldest son Carmine emigrated to Canada. Some years later, sale of the home in Boiano provided funds for Carmine to start his first construction company in Toronto. In the mid 1950s, Concetta moved to Toronto with the remainder of the children.
