Catheriine and I raised eight children. Problems did not escape us. Our seventh child, a young boy (Gerard) passed away at age fourteen from a Staphylococcal infection which was supposed to be easily cured with Antibiotics. While the explantions were thin, we could never understand the failure. Some forty years later we received our answer . A Doctor Valentine made a study of all the cases in the hospital where the standard treatment failed, and he concluded that another strain of the infection existed that was unidentified at the time.The strain was named Valentine after the Doctor that discovered it . Gerard's case would have been curable today along with many others. Gerard's death showed our family how fragile life can be. At times. life hangs by a thread that can easily br brooken. Before starting with details,each of our children each of them chose their own career paths and we never influenced them in any way.
John, our oldest, is in accounting and finance. His wife, Susan, is a school teacher and they have three children. John and Susan live in Mid Pennsylvania.
Our oldest daughter, Mary, a school teacher, married Dominic Visco, who worked in information technology for a large consumer products company. They raised five children, three girls and two boys.
Christine, a trained X-RAY technician, married Benjamin Beddis,a former detective and now an investigator. They had one girl and twin boys.
Joseph, a self-employed business owner, married a nurse, Eileen. Their family consists of two adopted boys.
Carol, unmarried, is also a nurse. She lives in her own house in Hatboro, PA.
Anne, who studied Human Development in college, married Joseph Maloney, an MD. They have five children and live in Bucks County, PA.
Beth, our youngest, is a school teacher. She married Michael Andaloro, a CEO of a global logistics company. They have two boys and live in New Jersey.
We had 20 grandchildren,They will be listed in the family tree section.
Our marriage was a beautiful relationship built the premise that we never say "no" to each other. When I ask Catherine about my desire to go to College and knowing she woud have the major share of raising our family. Her reponse"yes" and learn a lot. When she asked me to retire ,although I wasn't ready, I could not say'"No" to her. She planned our weekends usually visiting her Mother or my Mother , who ,during summer was picking blueberries.. If I had t o describe Catherine most outstanding characteristic was that she was very generous. I often teased her saying, that she never a saw a Charity she didn't like. She gave lots money although small in dollars to numerous organization. But most of all if any of our relatives had temporary financial problems, She was there to help... As time went on,the more money I earned the more she donated.. Today, I try to follow her system as pertains to Birthdays, Graduations,.weddings etc. I had to learn how to donate ,while Catherine's compassion for the less forunatre was part of her personality.. Catherine always looked into the future..On my retirement, the Lawyers recommend that some of my lump sum retirement be put into Catherine's name. She found financial independence in the agreement. This expanded her base of generosity...She often said " Its unholy" to sit on money that does no good for our family or the needed charities"