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September 16th, 1998
Interviewers:
- Leslie Robertson and Mary Giuliano
Note: "P" indicates "Patsy" and "M" indicates "Maria"
Mary Giuliano is interpreter for this interview. Italics
is voice of Leslie Robertson.
Q: So here we are its Wednesday, September 16th and
were sitting in the kitchen of Maria and Patsy Perri with their
daughter Lena. And so Patsy first of all we want to know where
you came from in Italy.
P: Provincia Cosenza, San Giovanni In Fiore, Provincia,
Cosenza.
Q: Oh and what about you Maria?
M: Same thing.
Q:
Same Province?
P: Yeah.
Q: What year did you come Patsy?
P: 1956.
Q: 1956 and you Maria Quando si venuta? Pure tu a 56
si venuta insieme?
P: Yeah. E Lena pure.
Q: Were you married in Italy oh and you had Lena as
well. Oh so you were married in Italy?
P: Yeah.
Q: Okay I thought you were married here for some
reason. Ive known them for a long time. What was it like in
Italy before you came here?
P: Well at that time it was pretty bad you know lots
of unemployed and everyone tried to get away from Italy those
days. Find work some place else.
Q: So you came here mostly because of the work?
P: Yes.
Q: You didnt go and work in the mines did you or?
P: About twenty years.
Q: Oh you did twenty years?
P: Yes.
Q: Underground?
P: Yes.
Q: How was that?
P: I like it too.
Q: You liked it?
P: Oh yes. If I had to do it all over again I would do
the same thing.
Q: Were you at Coal Creek?
P: Yes Number Nine mine was Number Nine yeah. For my
age - if you the age and the way things were (inaudible) years
old because I had been working with the horses.
Q: You were there working for horses then?
P: Yes.
Q: And that was only 1956 she said. They were still
quite primitive in that mine.
P: Yeah all the coal was mining by hand. No machine
those days.
This oral history transcript is extracted from the
Elk Valley Italian Oral History Project undertaken for the Fernie and District Historical Society
in 1998-99. The
Heritage Community Foundation and the Year of the Coal Miner Consortium would
like to thank Leslie Robertson and the interview team and the Fernie and District Historical Society,
which is a member of the consortium, for permission to reprint this material.
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