1n 1964 our family had the extreme good fortune of my brother Richard Anthony Dodge talking Virginia Mary Virgadamo into marrying him. Our family, Mom Bernice, step-dad Larry Ferrari, sister Dianne Ferrari, brother Donald Dodge, Grandma Alice Thomas and best friend Bob Halada all had the great fun of traveling to St. Louise to attend the wedding.  Ginny’s dad, Michael Virgadama was none too pleased with Ginny’s choice of husband, despite her mother, Lena, enthusiastically supporting the union.  So there was a certain sigh of relief when Larry and Michael – two paisano’s immediately took to one another and Larry was able to assure Michael that Dick – despite not being Italian – was a good boy and would take very good care of his daughter. 

Here below are splendid photos of Ginny’s young parents, Michael and Lena, and on the right adorable toddler Ginny, all of whom we happily welcomed into our family and with whom we shared many years of delightful family get-togethers.

There Vincenza gave birth to Michael in 1917 and only one year later died giving birth to a second child who also died.

Unable to care for Michael on his own Carlo returned to his home village of Burgio, two hours east of Marsala.  There Carlo remarried and had two more children.  Carlo’s new wife had no interest in raising Michael as her own and so he was more than likely cared for by a maid – even eating with her in the kitchen instead of in the dining room with his father, step-mother and half siblings.

So he then made his way to St. Louise where his mother’s brother, Joe D’Leberto, took him in and got him a job at clothing factory, making men’s suits.

And there he met the young beauty he would later marry, Lena Gentile, who worked there as the bookkeeper.

Despite not having any conscious memory of his mother, Michael traveled faithfully every year to White Ash to visit her grave, always taking his wife Lena and his daughter, Ginny, with him to place flowers on her grave.

Lena recalled her childhood as incredibly happy.  She loved to cook with her mother and her father, who worked as a pipe layer for the city, built a special stool for her so she could reach the stove.  The only thing she didn’t like was ironing the shirts of her brother, whom she resented for not having to do any housework because they were men.

As a bright and secure beauty she could have had the pick of anyone of several successful young men in their community, but Lena’s heart was captured by the young, handsome, and brooding tailor who worked in the factory where she had a job as a bookkeeper.  Michale, Virgadamo could barely speak English and Lena loved helping him learn and so one thing led to another…

After six years and several miscarriages Lena at last gave birth to her one and only child, Virginia Mary, on May 6, 1943.  Here is Lena pictured with baby Ginny in a photo she sent to her husband and new daddy, Michael – announcing Ginny’s birth.  Michael spent much of WWII on a southern military base making uniforms for the troops.

That Ginny exists at all is something of a miracle, for in the third month of her mother’s pregnancy Lena fell on an icy winter street on her way to church, landing on her back and injuring herself so badly that she needed surgery and had to spend the remainder of her pregnancy immobilised in bed.   She was lucky to find a wonderful woman by the name of Eloise, who took care of Lena both before Ginny’s birth and then both of them for several months after she was born.

When Lena was well enough to walk again she got a job at department store (much like Macy’s) called Famous Bar. She worked in lingerie and was hugely successful not only because she could speak Italian, but because she was one hell of a saleswoman.  So she was brilliant at taking care of the Sicilian women – busy putting together their daughters’ wedding dowries.

Ginny tells an amusing story that when her father returned from duty – she at the age of two had been told so often that the photo of her father WAS her father, that when a strange man approached her and announced that he was her father she exclaimed, NO! and pointing to the photo of him, said “that’s my father.”

Here above is a lively get together of Ginny’s and Michael’s extended family.  It’s reminiscent of the extended family gatherings of the Botelho’s and Thomas’s – our family who was so thrilled to welcome Ginny, and with whom we hoped she’d feel at home.  

Far right is Ginny’s grandmother Vitina, sitting next to her sister, Ninata. Above Ninata is granddaughter, Nanette, who became a nun.  Staring out at us in front is Nanette’s little sister, Cathy.  The man with the glasses is Mateo, Vitina’s husband and Ginny’s grandfather.  And to the right of Mateo is, Fred Menzel, the father of Ana Mary – Ginny’s first cousin and best friend to this day.

The woman with the tea cup on the left is Ana Rose, Vitina and Ninata’s mother, who traveled on her own to St. Louis to make a life for herself and her daughters after being abandoned by her husband.  And here she is – Ana Rose – on the right in her own much deserved portrait.

Because Ginny was an only child and because her parents worked so much, her grandmother and cousin were deeply important to her and so when she was only eleven and they both moved to California she was bereft beyond words.  Happily, though, she would visit with them every summer throughout her teen years.  And there she would develop a passion for California which was no small boon to Dick – being a Californian – in his bid for her hand in marriage.

Ginny’s grandmother, Vitina, a warm-hearted and popular woman in her community in St. Louis, continued to be so in her adopted Los Angeles home of San Pedro.  Ginny recalls of her grandmother that she made friends easily and was often the centre of social gatherings, but that she was adamant about not allowing her friends to gossip about anyone.  Her compassionate, and non-judgemental nature is evident as well in her granddaughter Ginny and is one of the reasons we all love her so much.

This strong and compassionate mother and grandmother also never complained.  After an accident in the factory where she worked when her hand was pierced by a sewing machine needle, a distracted doctor left her hand in the x-ray machine for so long that the resulting burns left her right hand incapacitated and she had to learn to do everything with her left hand.  But she did so without complaint, continuing to work hard and care for those she loved.

My favourite story that Ginny tells about her grandmother is that after moving to California to be with her youngest daughter, Jenny, and granddaughter Ana Mary, she took in a young man, Ana Mary had been dating.  Everyone called him Red, because of his red hair.  Red was only 19 when his irresponsible mother ran off with her second or third husband, leaving Red to fend for himself.  Unable to pay the rent himself for the small house in which he was living, Vitina insisted that Red live with her and he did so until he and Ana Mary married.  Red’s bond with Vitina was powerful and lasted until the day Vitina died.

And here she is on the job she so adored as – a stewardess for Ozark airlines.  Ironically we wouldn’t have her in the family without this job, placing her not only in Chicago but in the very apartment building Dick was living in when they met in 1963.  But sadly she had to give up this much loved gig when she married because of the absurd rules of all airlines at the time which didn’t allow married women to be stewardesses.