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    Giovanni Paron: Oral History Transcript 

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Giovanni Paron

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Sam Scrivano

Silvio Tona

Paolo Veltri

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The following is an accurate verbatim written transcript of the oral record of interview conducted with Giovanni Paron in his home in Edmonton, Alberta on 17 August, A.D. 1983, by Carmela Marino and Anna Bruni, and transcribed by Giovanna Falcone.

Ms. M: Carmela Marino
Mr. P: Giovanni Paron
Ms. B: Anna Bruni

Ms. M:

Mr. Paron, where were you born?

Mr. P:

I born in Italy, Val da Sone on 1892 on 23rd of June.

Ms. M:

And, what province in Italy is that?

Mr. P:

Pordenone

Ms. M:

And, what was, like how long were you in Italy? How long did you stay in Italy? How old were you when you left Italy?

Mr. P:

I left Italy, I was fourteen years and one-half old.

Ms. M:

O.K. What do you remember about your childhood in Italy?

Mr. P:

Oh, I remember lots.

Ms. M:

Yes

Mr. P:

Oh yeh.

Ms. M:

What was your ah, how many people in your family?

Mr. P:

Six brothers and five sisters.

Ms. M:

And were you the oldest?

Mr. P:

I was the second youngest one.

Ms. M:

Second youngest.

Mr. P:

Yeah. My sister is younger than me, she dead, and then, that the last one. And, I got a sister in Belgium, she three years older than me and still living.

Ms. M:

Isn't that fantastic.

Mr. P:

But, she in bed all the time, she crippled, got her leg cut off right here.

Ms. M:

Oh, I see. What did you do during those fourteen years in Italy? What was your town like? What did you do as a young boy?

Mr. P:

School.

Ms. M:

You went to school.

Mr. P:

Yes, I left school on a Thursday and on Friday I came to Canada.

Ms. M:

Oh, I see. What grade did you go up to?

Mr. P:

Second, second grade.

Ms. M:

Second grade. O.K. Second grade, or ah

Mr. P:

Second grade. See, the first, the second and third. That what you go that time, those days.

Ms. M:

Oh.

Mr. P:

After the third, no more.

Ms. M:

Oh, but, O.K., so you mean that some people, like la prima media, la seconda media.

Mr. P:

Seconda media.

Ms. M:

Seconda media, va bene. O.K., what about, ah what did you do for fun?

Mr. P:

For fun?

Ms. M:

For fun, yeh, what did you do?

Mr. P:

Oh, do everything.

Ms. M:

Yeh.

Mr. P:

Oh yeh, I have fun all the time.

Ms. M:

You had lots of brothers and sisters for that.

Mr. P:

Yeh, yeh, three play golf, over there we play golf over there.

Ms. M:

You played golf as a young boy.

Mr. P:

Yeh, right there, that's right.

Ms. M:

Isn't that something. So you went to school and you played golf and, what was your house like? Where you lived, what was your house like in Italy?

Mr. P:

It was a big house. Big house, four bedrooms and one, it was a big room and all the kids stayed in the big room.

Ms. M:

Ah, all the kids slept in a big room.

Mr. P:

Yeh, but the house was a kitchen, and a sitting room and a dining room.

Ms. M:

Oh, I see. Who lived with you besides your brothers and sisters and your mom and dad? Did you have grandmother, grandfather, etc.?

Mr. P:

My father, he died in 1910. He was sixty-two years old when he died. Two years after I left the old country.

Ms. B:

What did your father do, what was his occupation? What kind of work did he do?

[continue>>]

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