Memorial Day

Like everyone else on Memorial day we went to the graveyard. I can't believe it has been 4 years since my dad died. I miss him so much and wish all the time that my boys could have met him. I know they didn't know where they were but I thought it was important for me to take them there. My dad is buried next to my uncle Sammy and this is their headstone. 

My uncle Sammy died in 2003 and was a shock to all of us since he was a really healthy guy. He was a big part of my life and definitely my favorite uncle. 

This was the coolest part of my trip home. Since I joined the church I have been working on my family history and have gone back 5 generations on my moms side but I get stuck with my dads side since a lot of his family were immigrants from Italy. I just found out a few months ago that my aunt Florena has my grandpa's passport. This should help me a lot cause now I know that he came to America in 1934 so at least I have a place to start. 

 This is the back of the passport and the top line is where they had to put what their occupation was going to be once they got to America. This made me laugh cause his says "Controllo Barbiere" which means Barber in Italian but my grandpa wasn't a barber at all and actually became a coal miner. They just put that on the passport to get him over here. The reason it makes me laugh is because on the Ancestry.com commercial the one guys says how he found his ancestors from other countries that came here to be barbers and he says "I found out I came from a long line of barbers" LOL I think it was everyones ticket to get to the US :)

    She also gave me a picture of my Grandpa and Great Grandpa. The confusing thing is this isn't father and son. The man on the right is my Dad's dad (Grandpa Carmelo Pansera Sr.) and the man on the left is my Dad's moms dad (Great Grandpa Tony Fortuna)