T Stands for Looking for the Uncles

I had an urge to go on a cemetery hop. I wanted to see if I could find out where my father's uncles were buried. (My great) Uncle Joe had lived in the next town west of us, in Framingham. He had been a barber and owned a barber shop by the railroad station in the center of town.

The five gentleman in the foreground(left to right) my grandfather, Achille Todisco
Uncle Alfred, Uncle Joe, my father (named after his grandfather and Uncle Joe),
and Dad's kid brother, Mario

Dad always talked fondly about Uncle Joe. He had given dad a Waltham watch when he graduated law school. When Dad moved the family to Natick in 1952, he gave dad his old, two-tone green Dodge automobile. I remember the car, but not Uncle Joe.

Uncle Alfred's shoe shop, now a bakery at 542 Washington St. Wellesley

I have fond memories of (my great) Uncle Alfred. He was a cobbler and owned a shoe store in Wellesley, the town east of where we lived. Uncle Alfred carried Stride-Rite shoes, a brand of shoe for children. Every year before school started, Ma would take the Brother and I to get new shoes. Uncle would sit on the salesman's bench with the slanted footrest for us to be fitted with the right size shoes Ma picked out for us. I sometimes amused myself while the Brother was being fitted by sliding down the slanted footrest.

When I was around 6 or 7 years old, I desperately wanted a pair of cowboy boots. Dad must have mentioned it to Uncle because that year on my birthday, when woke up, I found a pair of shiny, brown, tooled-leather, cowboy boots. I couldn't image Ma asking Uncle to get me a pair of cowboy boots.

Uncle Alfred was interview by his local newspaper, The Wellesley Townsman. I blogged about his article in a previous Throwback Thursday

I had both of the uncles birth and death dates so requested their death certificates from their respective towns.

It shouldn't have come as a surprise to find they were both buried in St. Tarcisius Cemetery in Framingham. They were very close as brothers. I found a number for the cemetery and called to see if I could find out the section the uncles were buried in. The secretary was very helpful. Told me the uncles and their wives were buried together in the old section of the cemetery. Father Sartori Row 5, Lot 4.

The cemetery was a lot smaller than we expected, established by the parish in 1907. The entrances were barely wide enough for a car. Teague drove in and followed the driveway to down to a perimeter drive. She took a left and I spotted the Father Sartori sign. Usually when looking for a grave, we end up spending time wandering around looking for the grave stone. Teauge practically parked in front of the Uncles grave.

I was surprised to see the correct spelling of the family name. Both uncles spelled the name, Todesco, and used that spelling as their legal surname. The family story I heard about the different spelling was when Uncle Alfred came over from Italy and was signing papers to enter the country, he made a loopy "i". The official recorded this as "Todesco" even though the loopy "i" was dotted.

Both Aunties passed away long before I came along. Uncle Alfred's wife, Esterina, passed away in 1940. Auntie Clara followed in 1946. Uncle Joe passed in 1966 and Uncle Alfred in 1972. After visiting with my relatives, I went to visit the neighbors.

St. Tarcisius Cemetery is a predominantly Italian Catholic cemetery. Lots of the monuments were big and beautiful. Seems Italians spare no expense for monuments to their loved ones.

I usually photograph angel statues

but some of the monuments were just too beautiful not to photograph even though they didn't have angels on them.

This monument was carved like a tree trunk with a type of scroll on the front. I forgot to photograph the back which was carved like tree bark.

It was nice to see the cemetery allowed planting and even though the cemetery was an older cemetery family still visited and took care of the graves.

St. Anthony of Padua is a popular saint among Italians. He's always depicted holding the Christ Child on a Bible. His story that while imprisoned the Christ Child appeared to him as he opened his Bible., and blessed him with the gift of preaching God's word.

This monument shows Mary as a child, Later, she would become the mother of Christ. In this grouping she is with her mother, St. Anne. The arch above the figures is carved with an intricate rose design. Roses are symbols of Mary, especially white rose. Legend says when she kissed white roses in Heaven, they blushed and turned red.

I loved seeing the milkweed pods ready to burst with seeds. I didn't see any butterflies in the cemetery.

Another beautiful angel.

A double heart

A little angel in front of an elaborately etched stone with an unusual round shape. There weren't many non-Italian surnames in the cemetery

Another beautiful etching

Another little angel in front of this veteran's stone. I wonder if he had been a pilot. Can you see the airplane in the upper right corner?

My favorite stone in the cemetery

two stone kitties nestled on top.

A day dreaming angel

This stone had a very unusual shape. Daniel was a Red Sox fan.

Since Daniel was a firefighter, I thought the stone was carved to look like flames

Another lovely, etched stone depicting a group of children. 

"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." Matthew 18:3 (KJV) (NB: The King James version of the Bible is the only Bible that is copyright-free to quote from.)

I thought this was the most beautiful stone in the cemetery.

Someone was fond of bunnies

The family name was Spinnazola, but I loved how the family used the nickname, "Spinny". Statues of angels, the Virgin Mary, and solar lights decorated this grave. And tucked behind the flag,

a little French bulldog.

As we were about to leave, I had gone back to say good-bye to the Aunties and Uncles. Teague was heading back to the car when she called out to me.

"I think you might want to see this." I thought she must have found an unusual stone to photograph. And she did

Another stone with my family name and a mystery

Was Albert related to my family? He was born in 1916 and was the right age to be a child of Uncle Alfred, but Uncle Alfred didn't have a son named Albert. His children, his first son, Tony died shortly after birth, followed by Anthony, Charles, Arthur, Eleanor, and Alfred. 

Auntie Clara, Uncle Joe's wife, was divorced and had three children (Frank, Lilian, and Rose) by her first husband. Uncle Joe and Auntie Clara didn't have children of their own.

After wandering around the cemetery,we went to Murphy's Eats and Treats as it's down the street from the cemetery

Teague had a tuna melt with a side of fries and a root beer. I had a bacon cheeseburger and with a side of fries and a Raspberry Lime Rickey.

Then we ended lunch with some ice cream. Peppermint stick for Teague and Death by Chocolate for me.

While trying to find a link between Albert and my family, I did find that Uncle Alfred's only daughter passed away earlier this year.

Drop by hosts, Bleubeard and Elizabeth's blog to find out what the rest of the T Stands For gang is up to. If you want to play, include in your Tuesday post a beverage or container for a beverage. Don't forget to link your blog to Bleubeard and Elizabeth's page.