Enroute to CA - Meeting Giorgi's in Sonoma

On September 12, 2007, Deb and I began our 1000 mile driving trip to California with plans for two nights on the road. We had decided to take the more scenic Highway 101 by departing I-5 at Grants Pass, Oregon and taking Route 199 to Crescent City, CA where we spent the first night.

During our travel on the 2nd day, an idea came to me that we might slow our trip down and try to meet some of the Giorgi's in Sonoma, CA. You may recall that in the last paragraph of my prior posting entitled "Giorgi Family Tree - Cliff's Note Version," I noted that I did not know the offspring of another of my "Nana's" sisters: my Aunt Lena Giorgi who emigrated to the Sonoma, California area, but the trips to Gordevio left the desire to know them. So, while enroute I called dad and got the contact information for Aunt Lena's oldest son Melvin. Upon arrival at our accommodations, I placed a call to Melvin and inquired about the possibility of meeting him the next afternoon. Melvin was warm and welcoming -- and we agreed to meet at his house the next afternoon.

When we arrived at Melvin's house on September 14, he and his brother Ray welcomed us as if we had known them all our lives -- and the time flew by as we delved into their branch of the family tree, their travels to Switzerland and Melvin's pictures, both historical and current -- learning about both his and Ray's offspring. All was fascinating -- as I began to understand more about the family -- theirs, mine, ours. Some of the discussion helped clarify and confirm things I already had heard from dad -- other parts provided new information. As with all conversations -- some I probably heard correctly and some I may not have grasped just right -- but every minute was precious and fun, and we left with both the satisfaction of having stopped -- and the desire to return again to both continue the conversations and meet more of Aunt Lena's branch. Some interesting tidbits included:

1. Sisters speaking with different accents: As a child I had noted that Aunt Lena Giorgi spoke with what I perceived as a heavy "foreign" accent and I thought it was unusual that her sister, my "Nana" spoke with no such accent. Why? Nana was 10 years older than Aunt Lena Giorgi. Their parents emigrated to the USA when Nana was around 5 and Lena was not yet born. The family settled and resided in Coal City, Illinois where Nana was schooled during her formative years -- it could be said that English was her primary language. Nana's and Aunt Lena's father, Bernardo, died when Nana was in her teens and their mother returned to Gordevio where Aunt Lena, then in her formative years, was educated and where Italian became her primary language. As might be expected, Aunt Lena's children benefitted from learning Italian at home.

2. Sometimes "official" documents reflect life -- sometimes we make life fit the documents: Ray's birthdate in the family tree document I had was listed as one date -- the date that he was told and the date celebrated until he had to apply for a passport and found that his official birth certificate showed his birthdate as one day prior. No one knows for sure which date accurately reflects the fact (he was born at home and the notion that the birth certificate was correct is just as plausible as the day/date he had been told).

3. Names Come and Go: The Giorgi surname, a very common name in Ticino, currently has but one related male who, by current naming traditions in the USA, MAY carry the name on as a surname to future generations in the USA. This male is Melvin's grandson.

All in all, a wonderfully satisfying afternoon -- and, hopefully, the beginning of more family contacts to come.

[Note: While I didn't know any of Aunt Lena Giorgi's offspring -- it should be noted that such is not the case for my other brothers and sisters who have stayed closer to home. My opportunities to get to know Aunt Lena Giorgi's family were limited by the choices I made which took my life's path away from my hometown and California thereby limiting the opportunities for contact.]