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A Tale of Two Families...
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| On a cold and blustery day, a young man traveling from afar caught a glimpse of the most wonderous sight his eyes had ever beheld; the Statue of Liberty. Far away, on a day very similar to the one just described, a young women boarded a train destined for St Louis. Both these travelors left behind their families and friends to embark on a quest for a new and better life. Who would have thought their lives and families would one day be tied together many years down the road? |
| The year was 1925. Anthony Moretti, a struggling farmer from a poor Italian village, left his wife of two years, Carmela Iaccino, for a chance at starting over in America. Relatives waved him goodbye from the dock as he made his way on to the tiny steamboat that marked the start of his journey. Slowly the ship pulled away from the congested port, located at the tip of the toe of Italy. Out to see the boat crept without hesitation, leaving behind only tears and a rapidly fading trail of steam in its wake. The voyage for Anthony would be a long and trying one, but he was determined to follow his dream. After traveling countless miles and crossing numerous seas, the ship pulled ashore on Ellis Island in the land of opportunity. From that tiny island fate took Anthony to New York's Italian district for a brief while and then to Kenosha, Wisconsin. There he lived for a five years, working hard labor in a factory until he had managed to collect enough money for his wife's ticket to America. Even after his wife had arrived in the states though, Anthony was still not satisfied and strove for a still better life, one he hoped was waiting for him in Chicago. And so shortly after her arrival, the couple headed off to the Windy City in 1930. There the two dreamers at last found the life they were searching for. Anthony found a job with the CTA and worked as a bus driver until his retirement. Carmela gave birth to three children, the youngest and only son being my father, Alfred. |
| After leaving her home and family in Oklahoma and working her way through school at St. Louis University, Mary Mospan was awarded a post-graduate scholorship in Washington DC. There she went to school and lived for three years before returning to St. Louis in search of a position as a nursing teacher. Unable to find anything available to her in the city, her hopes for a better life begain to die. Fate has a funny way of doing things however, as the lack of jobs would in time be a blessing. A few hours away from her residence in. St Louis, a head-nurse position opened up in Jacksonville, Illions. It was there that she ended up meeting her future husband, Fred Curtis. Fred worked as the local milkman, just as his father had done before him. Through a mutual friend he came to know Mary and after a short courtship the two were married in February of 1941. A year later the couple had their first of seven children. The middle child of the seven was Martha, my mother. |
| It is said that nothing can be gained in life unless you are willing to risk losing everything. Anthony Moretti and Mary Mospan Curtis were willing to take a chance at a better life. They left behind their entire lives and everything they had ever know to travel to a world unlike anything they had ever experienced. Their decision to do so payed off for them, in the end they both achieved their dreams and found a better life. They weren't the only ones who benifited from their gamble though, I owe my entire existence to it. |
