Vol 4-2, Maria's copy2(R).pub (Read-Only) - Filicudi.org
Vol 4-2, Maria's copy2(R).pub (Read-Only) - Filicudi.org
Vol 4-2, Maria's copy2(R).pub (Read-Only) - Filicudi.org
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PAGE 2<br />
Know Your Officers:<br />
Maria Taranto/Mahon,<br />
President, is a granddaughter<br />
of Maria Picone of<br />
<strong>Filicudi</strong> and Onofrio Taranto<br />
of Alicudi, and daughter<br />
of Gaetano "Tom" and<br />
Rose Busceme Taranto of<br />
Waltham. Born in 1941 and<br />
raised in Holliston, Maria<br />
graduated from Holliston<br />
High School, Bennington<br />
College and Columbia University with a Ph.D. in<br />
Psychology. Before retiring she taught at Hofstra<br />
U. and Nassau College in Long Island, NY, while<br />
engaging in psychological research. In 1988 she<br />
Jennifer "Jenny" Taranto,<br />
Recording Secretary,<br />
was born in 1976 in<br />
Fayetteville, North Carolina<br />
to Linda and Felice Taranto.<br />
She is a granddaughter of<br />
Giuseppe and Elena Taranto<br />
of Pecorini, <strong>Filicudi</strong> and she<br />
also has ancestors from<br />
Alicudi. She graduated<br />
from North Carolina State<br />
University in 2000 with a<br />
Batchelor of Science degree in Construction Engineering<br />
and Management and is currently employed<br />
as a project manager by Structure Tone<br />
Patricia Rando, Treasurer,<br />
was born in Chicago<br />
IL in 1932 to Wilma and<br />
Frederick Whalend. She is<br />
married to Anthony Rando<br />
whose mother and father,<br />
from Pecorini, <strong>Filicudi</strong>,<br />
were Angelina Giardina and<br />
Giacomo "James" Rando,<br />
an early member of the<br />
Santo Stefano di <strong>Filicudi</strong><br />
Society and the Unione<br />
Eoliana Society. Patricia<br />
LA CANNA SIREN<br />
VOLUME IV ISSUE 2<br />
was married to John Curtis Mahon and moved to<br />
MA. She has been a member of the <strong>Filicudi</strong> Associates<br />
since 1990, <strong>org</strong>anized and ran the first Eolian<br />
Islands Heritage Day in 1999, oversaw the Heritage<br />
Room display, and gathered information for and constructed<br />
the souvenir booklet for the Gala in 2000,<br />
was secretary of the association from 2000-2002 and<br />
has been president since 2003. She also initiated the<br />
celebration of an Annual Santo Stefano Picnic, and<br />
cooperative ventures with the Waltham Museum,<br />
The Waltham Historical Society, and The Museum<br />
of Eolian Emigration on Salina, Eolian Islands, Italy.<br />
She has been to the Eolian Islands seven times and<br />
has had a long-standing love-affair with all things<br />
Eolian. She is currently putting together a book of<br />
memoirs of those who emigrated from the Eolian<br />
Islands to the greater Boston area, and their descendants.<br />
Inc. of Boston. Jennifer has had a long-standing<br />
interest in family genealogy and in preserving the<br />
<strong>Filicudi</strong> culture and heritage. She joined the <strong>Filicudi</strong><br />
Associates soon after relocating to Boston and has<br />
been the Recording Secretary since 2004. Her interest<br />
in heritage is so strong that after graduating<br />
from college she traveled to <strong>Filicudi</strong> by herself to<br />
experience the land of her ancestors first hand. She<br />
returned last year with her husband, Tom Vitolo,<br />
during their honeymoon. Jenny is carrying on a<br />
massive genealogical search of Taranto families to<br />
discover their interconnections and she is Chairperson<br />
of the society's Genealogy Interest Group.<br />
graduated from Morton High School in a suburb of<br />
Chicago. She met Anthony in 1966 and they were<br />
married in 1968. She accompanied Anthony and<br />
his mother to Italy and <strong>Filicudi</strong> in 1968 and remembers<br />
having to depart from the large boat from<br />
Messina to a small row boat in order to land at the<br />
port in <strong>Filicudi</strong>. She says that she enjoyed the trip<br />
very much. Patricia spent most of her professional<br />
life working with figures, first in a bank in Chicago,<br />
then on the old UNIVAC computers, engaged as a<br />
keyboard operator, punching in programs. She<br />
joined the <strong>Filicudi</strong> Associates in 2002 and has been<br />
its treasurer ever since.