What a wonderful tribute Tac... my paternal grandfather passed one week before my 11th birthday in 1958... a giant of a man who stood only 5 feet tall... a coal mining engineer who never went to school a day in his life... I had the unbelievable good fortune to live with him and my grandmother in our home... He carried a gun most of his life to protect his family from the evils of society... sent three sons off to WW2 and pulled out his hair with worry, but God blessed him by returning all three alive... and only one was wounded (my Dad). He received the quiet fear and respect of even the mafia in Philadelphia where I was raised... because he would not join them... because he would take no part in the illegal behavior, he was often called upon as consigliori (counselor) to those who did to resolve disputes between them for which he received no compensation, only the respect due an honest man... he was known as "Don Fillippo" in his time... I regret that my children were never to know him except throught my memories of him. Every first born son in his family was named after him... including my older brother Phillip, who died as an infant the year before my birth... A kinder gentler soul I never knew as a child... but then I would never have wanted to see the result of his anger... I have a feeling it would have been catastrophic for the object of it...
Thanks for sharing Tac my old friend...
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regards, -John S
"...We hold these truths to be self-evident that ALL men are created EQUAL and are endowed by their Creator with certain UNALIENABLE rights, and among these are life, LIBERTY, and the pursuit of happiness..."
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