JOE’S PATERNAL FAMILY

 

Grandparents

Giuseppe Colitti  &  Emanuela  (maiden name unknown)

There isn’t much information on Joe’s grandparents. They were from Celenza Valfortore, Foggia, Italy. Their oldest child, Joseph Anthony was born on March 6, 1896. He made the long voyage to America at 15 years old and arrived at Ellis Island in 1911. His younger siblings Thomas and Anna also came to America and settled in Queens, New York where they were finishers and tailors.

 

Joe’s Father

Joseph Anthony, Sr.

March 6, 1896 – November 2, 1962

 

Joseph & Vincenzina

Joseph apprenticed in Italy and even at his young age, became a master tailor. Joseph’s first work was in Waterbury, Connecticut, then he moved to Hartford. There he married Vincenzina Calafiore. They lived with her parents Salvatore Calafiore (a cobbler) & Adolorata Arcari Calafiore. I believe the Colitti & Calafiore families knew each other in Italy.

Soon Joseph & Vincenzina had a baby girl, Nina Elvira (Vera), in 1916 when they were both still teenaged. Sadly, Vincenzina & their second baby died during childbirth when Vincenzina was only 17, making Joseph a 20-year old widower. Vera was raised by her grandparents the Calafiore’s and Vincenzina’s older sister Angelina. They were Baptists. Always wondered why Vera didn’t go to Mass on Sundays like the rest of us, it was because she wasn’t raised Catholic.

Vera’s Social Security Document

Name:	Nina Elvira Colitti [Nina Elvira Wood]  [Nina Wood]
Gender:	Female
Race:	White
Birth Date:	29 Dec 1916
Birth Place:	Hartford, Connecticut
Death Date:	10 Dec 2003
Father:	Joseph A Colitti
Mother:	Vincenzina Calafiore

 

Joseph Tailor & Retailer

While Vera was in the care of the Calafiore’s in Hartford, Joseph moved to Springfield, Massachusetts, 25 miles north to try to build a business. He slept in his newly acquired tailor shop “Joe the Tailor” at 1837 Main Street and learned English by cutting a hole in the wall between the tailor shop and a barber shop next door so he could listen and chat. He also opened another tailor shop at 392 High Street in Holyoke.

 

 

Joseph soon closed the Holyoke shop and moved the Springfield tailor shop a couple doors down to create the original JOSEPH’S Tailors & Clothiers at 1821 Main Street, on the corner of Ferry.

“Joe the Tailor” could be seen at the store daily with a cloth tape measure around his neck and a square flat piece of chalk in his hand. Bolts of fabric as well as his custom-made suits were on display in the windows. A large grid chalkboard for measuring stood in the back of the store with a sign above it which read, We Won’t Let You Wear It Unless It Fits. The store later included ready-made menswear and haberdashery as a full men’s retail operation. Especially remember the felt hats.

 

 

Aurore Brassard was an office girl at the store with Florence Jensen as bookkeeper. Joseph married Aurore and it’s said thereafter he referred to her as “Mrs. Wilson” during business hours. The office was a half-walled trapezoidal space with swinging doors on either side in the back of the store. Adding machines had push buttons and paper tape that came out when the buttons popped up with a crank. Miss Jensen later brought in Mary Mulak as her assistant.

 

Joseph & Aurore

After Aurore and Joseph got married, they brought Vera from her grandparents in Connecticut to live with them on Springfield Street. Vera always loved Aurore and called her Mother. Joseph & Aurore had three children together, Joseph, Jr. (Sonny), Emanuel (Brother) & Gloria. The six of them all lived on Chapin Terrace. Mary Wikar was their live-in housekeeper. Aurore died at 46 years old, leaving her children, then 15, 14, and 11, older sister Vera, then 29 and their father, Joseph 50.

Joseph’s World War II Draft Document. He didn’t have to serve.

Name:	Joseph Anthony Colitti
Gender:	Male
Race:	White
Residence Age:	46
Birth Date:	6 Mar 1896
Birth Place:	Celenza Valfortore, Italy
Residence Date:	1942
Residence Place:	Hampden, Massachusetts, USA

 

Joseph & Evelina

Evelina Young Thibeault soon came into the picture. Evelina was born to a French Canadian family in Bellows Falls, Vermont and grew up in Claremont, New Hampshire. She spoke a little Québécois. She married a salesman named Thibeault and moved to Springfield, Mass. After his death, Evelina was left a childless widow. In her 50’s she met and married Joseph Colitti.

Evelina then inherited a family when she moved into the Chapin Terrace home. Gloria was in high school, Brother in college. Joe Jr. moved out, got married, and soon had a baby daughter (me). Vera was an adult and living on her own. J

As Joseph & Evelina’s first grandchild, I called them Papa & Nana (nah – nah). They loved me and all of the grandchildren to come. She was the only grandmother we knew.

Evelina’s brother Cy Young (no relation to that baseball pitcher) made us light green painted wood and glass dollhouse cabinets and furniture. Nana liked telling us stories from the tabloids and was a great cook. Chicken pie with homemade biscuits, pork chops with corn flakes and her Toll House cookies are rivaled only by Jean Jean’s today.

What I remember about the house on Chapin Terrace were Christmas Eves as a little girl. The family would gather, put me to bed to await Santa upstairs, then go to Midnight Mass. At some point, the front door would open with the sound of bells and I’d wake up and come downstairs to see what he’d brought. At like 3am. Dinner was already underway after Mass. That’s right, Nana cooked a middle-of-the night repast and then another feast on Christmas Day. She was known for her great cooking and lavish holiday spreads.

Joseph & Evelina later bought a ranch-style home on 112 Cunningham Street. Gloria was finishing high school and then junior college. Brother was mostly away at college. Joseph was married and Vera lived on her own. It was across from Van Horn Park. As a child I visited often to stay overnight, remember the Kusmick’s next door and playing croquet.

 

Joseph’s Later Life

Not only was Joseph, Sr. a highly successful proprietor of a retail store, he also self-educated in investing. His periodicals of choice were U.S. News & World Report, Barron’s, and The Wall Street Journal. He built an impressive portfolio of blue chip stocks and left a healthy financial legacy for his family.

He could be seen rolling his own cigarettes, drinking a short neat snifter of Hennessy Five Star cognac after a dinner. He’d have us rub the label with a little water to see the five stars appear. His dinners were always accompanied by a t-bone steak. That’s right steak as a side dish. Despite that he remained a thin 5’6″. If that tall. He walked to work and if he gained a few pounds, he’d fast with Saltines soaked in milk.

When Sonny was old enough to run the store, Joseph & Evelina wintered in their bungalow on Poinsettia Street in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He was always darkly tanned. They spent every day in their own striped cabaña on the beach. In summer they’d stay at Crescent Beach on Long Island Sound where they’d sometimes take me along. Papa had an aversion to looking at mustard jars in restaurants and would cover them with a napkin. Although his English was Ezio Pinza perfect, he counted and prayed in Italian and wore a St. Anthony medal around his neck, a superstitious if not devout Catholic. His skin was olive oil-smooth and he smelled of Old Spice aftershave. Ever close.

In the winter of 1961, before the Cuban Missile Crisis, Auntie Vera, Mom, Deb and I took a turbo-prop from Bradley Airport down to Fort Lauderdale to visit. We stayed with Papa & Nana in their bungalow, played with Grady the groundskeeper and went to the beach just across East Las Olas. Vera would wake up before dawn to catch the sunrise. Sister Deb was particularly worried about the Russians only 90 miles offshore, so she demanded that we take in the Welcome Mat during our stay.

Joseph died on November 2, 1962 from an aortic aneurysm, which is noteworthy because he was one of famed heart surgeon Dr. Michael DeBakey’s first patients. DeBakey went from Houston to Deaconess Hospital in Boston to perform the experimental new surgery on him. It was said that the surgery was a success. Yet. Papa Joe died.

At Joseph’s wake & funeral, many strangers came to pay respects and told us of surprise Christmas visits with clothes and other charitable contributions Joseph had made to their families who were his neighbors in the North End of Springfield. This was unbeknownst to his children or grandchildren.

 

Joseph’s Children

Nina Elvira  (Vera)   December 29, 1916 – December 3, 2003

Aside from being a second mother to her younger siblings, Vera was the office manager for Westinghouse in Springfield for over 40 years. She met husband Donald Wood later in her life when they were both working at Kay Jewelers as second jobs. Donald was a photographer and had a daughter Donna from a previous marriage. Donald & Vera did not have children together. She remained close to her Aunt Ange & her family the Mittica’s, in Meriden, Connecticut.

Joseph Anthony, Jr.  (Sonny)     August 30, 1930  –  January 14, 1994

Joe married Carole Russell in 1950 at Sacred Heart Church in Springfield, Ma. They had 5 children. Carol Aurore Ann (Candy); Deborah Lynn Catherine (Debby); Cynthia Jo (Cindy); Catherine Jean (Cathy); Joseph Anthony III (Joey). They lived in Bay Manor Apts. in the Pine Point area of Springfield, until 1955, then moved to South Branch Parkway across from Mill Pond in the Sixteen Acres area of Springfield, then in 1963 to Brookside Circle in the Town of Wilbraham.

“Sonny” took over the family store Joseph’s in 1962, where it expanded and grew. Meyer Hilton dressed the windows. Leo Kranfuss was head salesman. Mr. Merrill his associate. The store moved from the corner of Ferry & Main to Worthington & Main. Helen Segrin, Eddie Rivers in Haberdashery, Chris Galanis salesman in Clothing & Leon Gotler ran a Florsheim shoe dept. Mr. Chica was retained from the original store as the lead tailor as was Mary Mulak as beloved office manager.

Joseph, Jr. also opened a store in Westfield, Mass., managed by Tony Kubeck (no not the Yankees second baseman), and another in Waterbury, Conn. Joseph’s in Springfield moved to the new downtown mall Baystate West in the ’70’s and later turned discount as Joe Colitti’s Wear House on Walnut Street in Agawam, Mass.

Emanuel A. (E.A.) (Brother)     April 26, 1932   –  November 15, 1990

“Brother” graduated from Washington College in Chestertown, Maryland. He earned a PhD. in Economics from the University of Michigan. There he met and married Sheila Nugent from Ludington, Michigan. They had 3 children, Marc Claude Charles; Renata Nina Aurore; Guy Peter Antony. E.A. became Budget Director for the U.S. Air Forces in Europe, living with his family in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England; then, Wiesbaden Germany.

E.A. was an Opera aficionado. He knew the libretto of every major work and made it his mission to take in the classics from Vienna to La Scala. His daughter was named for the legendary Renata Tebaldi.

The family lived in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. Then moved to Wiesbaden, Germany where he was at Ramstein Air Force Base but the family lived in a local community rather than military base housing.

Brother would bring us gifts from Europe when he visited. Especially remember the series of Noddy books, and hand-painted wooden marionette puppets with cross-bars and strings.

At age 16 in the summer of 1966, I went to stay with Uncle Brother, Aunt Sheila. and the kids in Wiesbaden, Germany from where we all traveled together in an Opal sedan for a month to Austria, Switzerland and most of Italy. The 3 kids were all under 10 so I served as a sitter. When we got back from the road trip, Sheila took me to Paris for a few days. Then I flew to London to meet Hazel Herefjord, one of Uncle Brother’s former assistants and stayed in her home in Buckinghamshire. She sent me off on the Underground for a tour of London, then drove me around the English countryside. Brother and I took a last trip to West Berlin where he had business. I went to East Berlin through Checkpoint Charlie in a bus on my own. That summer in Europe was an amazing education for me as a teen.

When Uncle Brother died, his wishes were fulfilled as his ashes were released onto the gorgeous grounds of the Tanglewood Music Retreat in Lenox, Massachusetts.

Gloria Ann  (Glo)     February 23, 1935 –

Gloria graduated from Bay Path Junior College in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She was a doting aunt to me. She became an executive secretary at Chapman Valve in Springfield, where she met John Spadoni. Gloria and John soon got married with a reception at Belli’s Restaurant, an elegant hot spot of its day. John’s niece and I were flower girls. We wore burgundy-colored velvet bell-shaped skirted dresses with satin sashes and matching velvet muffs and head-bands with large satin bows. Late fifties classic chic. Gloria & John moved to North Attleboro, Massachusetts where he was from. They adopted a son, John Jr.; then were happily surprised to have Jill Ann. Uncle John was a sweet big-hearted man.

 

 

Joseph’s Siblings

Thomas Colitti  (1903 – 1953)
m. Marie (Dolly) Tagliarini, sister of Lucille DiVito

 

Anna Adolorata (Nina) Colitti   b. 1904
m. Antonio DiVito  married May 10, 1924, died 1977 Cook County, Illinois

Joseph DiVito    (1927 – 2005)  –  Lucille (Tootsie) Tagliarini

Joseph DiVito, Jr., M.D.
Thomas DiVito

Frank DiVito    (1928 – 2008)  –  Louise

Ann Marie DiVito – DeStefano
Karen DiVito

Anthony DiVito  (1931 – 2013)  –  Sylvia

Ann-Jean DiVito  – Goldberg
Bernadette DiVito  – Santana

 

Frank, Joseph & Anthony founded and co-owned Royal Quilting, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, New York. Joe & his cousins were close and I loved them. Especially visiting Joey DiVito & Tootsie in Elmhurst. Generous warm wonderful all of them.

 

 

 

 

Grace Nardi ~ Maria Grazia Siano 1901 – 1992

Grace Siano accompanied Joseph Colitti from Italy on the same ship and through Ellis Island. Not sure of the connection. Hometown in Italy or if they became acquainted on the voyage. They remained friends as Grace started a family-owned Italian restaurant called Nardi’s Happy Land in East Springfield, Massachusetts, Est. 1938.

3/9/83 Springfield Republican File Photo