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10 Membership News Birthday Dancers IN MEMORIUM EVE FERBER March 3-2 Jong Sook Kim 3-5 Jerry Dvorak 3-16 Trung Bui 3-16 Dorothy Callender 3-16 Lara McLaurin 3-28 Lurlene Gough 4-1 Lynn Moscinski 4-5 Edie Deoliveira 4-6 Guy Lavallee 4-8 Hugo Zacchini 4-23 Corinne Schramm April Longtime Southern Star member Eve Ferber passed away peacefully on January 6, 2013 at 3:43 pm in the afternoon. She was 93. She was the love of my life for 14 happy years, with never a harsh word between us. She loved life and dancing! Peace and love and harmony Ed Batchelor
11 Still Dancing By Rose Masciello An autobiography The Voyage to America When the exhausted but happy couple returned home, the Palmeris were eager to hear about their trip to this wonderland: Taormina. Stefano and Mamma Lucia pulled up their chairs. The children gathered around their newly married sister and brother-in-law and would not let them escape until they had heard every detail of the week they had spent in the town built on a mountain. As they listened in awe, they imagined themselves becoming wealthy in America and returning someday to visit their homeland and explore Taormina. Now it was time to wait patiently for word from the Embassy informing them of the exact date of embarkation. In fact, Padre Stefano after giving much thought to the coming voyage, and in consideration for the sponsors who would be receiving them, decided that five members of his family would go on ahead on the first assigned ship. He selected Mamma Lucia, who would quickly find work as a seamstress, and the two youngest girls, Nina and Margarita, who would attend school and learn the English language. In anticipation of a grandchild, Stefano felt that Giovanna and Giovanni should be on the first voyage also. Lo and behold! In the midst of all the planning and decision-making, the young couple announced that Giovanna was pregnant. They rejoiced and prayed that this baby would be born in America. It would be Stefano and Lucia’s first grandchild and the first American in the family. Those staying behind would be Padre Stefano, who would take care of leaving their few belongings to relatives; Pasquale, now sixteen and still a little too wild to be let loose in a new land, and Anichia to cook and keep house for her father and brother. Weeks and months went by as anticipation in the Palmeri household rose like the sound of a tightly pulled string on a violin. Yet, they went about doing their chores as usual and wondering what their lives would be like in the new world. The two little girls, sadly told their friends at school that soon they would have to say “Arrivederci” to them. Pasquale reminded his teenage girlfriends that he too would soon be leaving Sicily; he would miss their friendship and never forget them. They cried because they were losing their “Romeo”. Giovanna and her sister, Anichia spent much of their time in the kitchen, cooking for the family while Mamma Lucia sat in her rocking chair doing embroidery. She earned a few extra denaro sewing colorful silk designs for the owner of a nearby linen shop. When Giovanni was not helping his father-in-law with the men’s chores, he watched Mamma Lucia working her lovely designs on towels and pillow cases. He had always been fascinated by the vibrant colors that some of the great artists had used in their famous paintings. Lucia was amused when she urged her son-in-law to sew a few stitches and he used the needle almost as deftly as she did. Giovanni would be grateful for having skillful hands when he was faced with the challenge of earning a livelihood in America. At last their visas arrived. On the day the family had to part, they tearfully said their good-byes with mixed emotions. They would be oceans apart, yet very soon they would be together again living a better life in a new land. Mamma Lucia, Nina, Margarita, Giovanna, and Giovanni boarded the Princess Matoika in the middle of February 1921. The passenger list of the German ocean liner built in 1900 read: “three hundred passengers scattered in 1st, 2nd, 3rd class, and the crew.” Mamma Lucia with her “crew” were in steerage which held 1,700 passengers. It would be far from an enjoyable trip, especially for Giovanna, who was in the first stage of her pregnancy. An incident occurred during the voyage that was reported in the New York Times front page of February 27, 1921. One evening Lucia’s intuition told her that something was seriously amiss. She, with her three daughters and Giovanni behind them, quickly made their way topside. She asked if there was a problem and was told that the ship had stopped to greet another ship passing in the night. She continued on her way up with her family closely behind
Page 1 and 2: Newsletter of the Chapter Volume XX
Page 3 and 4: 3 Upcoming Events Mar 3 rd Lakeland
Page 5 and 6: 5 Foxtrot February Dance by Nikki D
Page 7 and 8: 7 with you no matter your dance lev
Page 9: 9 (Continued from page 8) up-o-da-p
Page 13 and 14: 14 The StarDancer Newsletter is pub
Page 15: Rhapsody Ballroom 12101 North 56th
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March/April 2013 Newsletter - SouthernStar Home

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