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Gus was born in Edmonton in 1915.
His parents came to
Canada in 1914. They lived in Edmonton until he was six
months old, then moved to Pocahontas, then moved to
Brule and stayed there until 1928. After that his dad
took the family down to Edson for nine months while he
worked in the mines at Cadomin. After nine months in
Edson, the family moved up to Cadomin until the mines
closed. His wife Assunta was born in 1922, in a small place near
Valvazone. She went to school there with her five sisters.
Her father was already in Canada farming. In 1939 Assunta, her mother, and three of her sisters
made the move to Canada. Gus and Assunta got engaged (1942-43) while he was in
the army. They married in 1945. Assunta's sister, Emilia
Raffin, also made the journey to Canada, and is featured in
the interview. When she arrived in the Edmonton area she
took work in a hotel and rooming house in the mining town of
Cadomin. Emilia says
she made more money in a week in Canada than she was
able to make in a month in Italy, and she got to be at
home with her family every night.
The interview was conducted by Carmela Marino and Anna
Bruni for the
Italians Settle in Edmonton Project in 1983 resulting in the commemorative booklet of the same name.
This was a 25th anniversary project of the Santa Maria Goretti
Parish. A Society was set up and a committee struck to undertake the research. The President was Frank Sdao and the research was led by Dr. Adriana Albi Davies.
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