Rememberances

Excerpts-letter to Julia K. Petorella Studlo,dated March 6, 2000, from Gloria Klir (Julia’s cousin).

“Dear Sue,

Pearl and Dominick Petorella as you know are your grandparents (you may remember Grandma Pearl). They had 3 girls and 1 boy.  The girls were Millie (Frankie’s mother), Sylvia, Julia and Jimmy.  Pearl was my mother’s sister, therefore my Aunt and Dominick my Uncle. Since your mother was born in 1916 and I in 1932, she was grown up when I was little and consequently my remembrances are from that time (with her as and adult). 

They lived at 802 S. Western Avenue in Chicago (Polk and Western).  Their house was a 2 story on a corner and on the first level was a gas station which Julia’s father and brother Jimmy ran.  The family lived on the second floor and on the back porch Aunt Pearl (your grandmother) had flower boxes in which she planted petunias and basil.  They also kept pigeons and had a dog named Nellie.  In the summertime Aunt Pearl and Uncle Dominick and my family would get together and go fishing at Maple Lake (my family being Rose, my mother, John, my father, my sister, Grace and my brother Richard—at that time my younger brother was not born yet—Rose is Pearl’s sister and Julia’s Aunt).  Uncle Dominick would go to the market and buy bushels of tomatoes and pickles [cucumbers] and Aunt Pearl and Julia would “can” them and my mother would do the pickles (she made bread and butter pickles) and they would trade off tomatoes and pickles.  Your grandmother was a very talented lady-she could crochet, knit, make paper flowers and she also did piece work where she would pick up bodices of dresses and sew the beadwork on them.  The family attended Precious Blood Church on Congress & Western—the church is still in existence today.  When we would visit your grandmother Pearl she would teach my mother new crochet patterns and my sister Grace but I couldn’t learn it as I was left-handed and she said I did it backwards.  Although we all did stitchery there were our summertime projects and then Pearl and my mother would crochet the lace on the stitched doilies, dresser scarves or pillow cases. Pearl also taught us flower making. I don’t know if your mother crocheted or knitted.  I don’t remember her doing so but she did make flowers with us,  I don’t know where your mother worked but your mother at the time was a very shy, quiet person (Millie was already married and out of the house as was Sylvia).  Your grandfather Dominick died in 1940.  Jimmy as you may or may not know got married shortly before he was drafted.  He married Betty (had Betty Cole-never saw her and was killed on D-Day in Normandy.  Aunt Pearl showed us his Purple Heart and when the [war] was over had his body shipped back for burial here (Mt. Carmel Cemetery).  He had a military funeral.  Am enclosing a picture of the headstone.

About 1950, Aunt Pearl had a stroke and Julia in order to keep her mother home bought her a TV (we didn’t have one and Julia asked us to keep her mother company so every Friday we would go to their house where we would watch TV with Aunt Pearl and have coffee and cake or pie.

About this time Julia went to a beauty school, made some new friends who experimented with glam [sic] themselves up and they would go out on Fridays.  She met your father and they started dating.  They got married and the house on Western Avenue was sold because Aunt Pearl had a second stroke and your father and mother bought a house on the North side and your grandmother lived with them.  We visited there a couple of times and I don’t remember who was born first but at that time she had a baby.

Don’t have too much more remembrances because we were growing up, my mother was working and your mother was busy with taking care of her family.  Your father and mother bought the house in Darien (I believe Grandma Pearl lived there for a while. Grandma Pearl died in 1956 so maybe she didn’t).  As you know your mother and father grew quite a few vegetables.”