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Rina
in an old picture taken in 1913, she
was 10 years old. |
Happy
100th Birthday Nonna Rina! We are so proud of
you! You have lived an entire century and have
seen things we will only ever read in history
books. When you were born there were no
airplanes and horse carriages were the norm.
Only the rich people had telephones and TV
would not be around until you were in your
50s! You lived through 2 World Wars and
despite it all you are very modern and love
all new inventions! You could not live without
your color TV and for that we love you and
know that is WHY you always told us you
had 'no
intention' of dying anytime soon!
Nonna
Rina's 100th Birthday Celebration took place
on her birthday, which happened to be on a
Saturday, August 16, 2003 at 1pm at the Castle
of St. Giuseppe in Chiaverano, near Ivrea.
Attendees were her sister Caterina, her three
children, Luciano with wife Laura, Anna Clara
and Angelina with husband Tony. Also attending
were all but one of grandchildren, some with
their whole families, the only one that
couldn't attend (yours truly that is writing
this) was 9 months pregnant and could
not
fly, otherwise, I would have been there! Also
attending are assorted relatives and close
family friends.
Rina's
birthday made the local news! Click
Here for the paper clippings of her special day from the
Sentinella Del Canavese!
Pages
on this celebration of Nonna Rina are as
follow:
Nonna Rina's
Main Page (this page)
Nonna
Rina's Family pictures
Sentinella
Article
My
personal memories
Pictures
of her 100th Birthday celebration ~
Rina's
Short Bio
Rina
Busa was born on August 16th, 1903 near
Lusiana, a village in the province of Vicenza
(Italy) with brown hair and green eyes.
She had 4 sisters and one brother. Her closest
friend growing up was her sister Caterina, 4
years her Junior, who is also still alive
today, 96 years old and going strong!
Nonna
Rina once told me that the reason why she
married later than most girls of her days (in
her late twenties) was because she did not
want to get married at all. However,
once she met my grandpa Marianno...
well, that was that! After only
7/8 months they were married, and together
they went to work in a cotton factory in the
Biellese (Trivero).
Soon thereafter Rina was pregnant with their
first child, and she expressed her desire to
be close to her family of origin for the
delivery, therefore they returned to Lusiana
in Lebele Street, in the house Marianno
constructed with the savings of years of hard
work in France.
On December 19th 1930 their first child was
born, a boy they named Luciano Matteo, in
memory of one aunt and the paternal
grandfather. At the time, to work far away
with a small child was impossible, so they
decided to stay in Lusiana. Marianno had
seasonal jobs at this point.
In 1932, on June 30th, Anna Clara was born,
and on March 28th, 1934 Angelina.
Their economic situation at this point was
unstable, with three children to raise, life
was difficult. Rina raised chicken and goats
but was not enough, Marianno looked long and
hard to find a stable job.
In 1935 the opportunity presented itself when
he found out that in Ivrea (near Turin), a
factory hired workers, he left and was hired
immediately.
The family remained in Lusiana, but they were
trying to reunite, therefore in 1936 in
September, Rina and the children made plans to
move.
 |
| Rina
in an old picture taken in the roaring
1920s! She
was 25 years old. |
They arrived in Ivrea at 10pm, but there was
nobody waiting for them. Marianno had sent a
telegram to her to let her know not to leave,
because the house he tried to rent was at the
last minute taken away because the owner found
out he had three children that would be living
there, but the telegram had not been delivered
in time.
Rina kept her strength, she noticed a hotel
across from the train station, and the
landlady, which was very nice, telephoned the
factory where Marianno worked. He was very
surprised and for that night they slept in the
hotel.
The next day they went looking for a house,
but they had to adapt to living in several
huts here and there to be together for a
while.
In the winter 1936/37 it was so rainy and
humid they risked to lose their children from
severe coughs and bronchitis, the rooms that
they were living in were cold and even had
water streams.
Finally the spring arrived and they found a
house much better built and exposed to south,
it was in a neighborhood called " Canton
Fonzetto ".
When the war emerged Marianno had to join the
Italian Army but stayed away from the Fascist
and joined the partisans, and that created a
lot of trouble for him. Luckily he survived.
In the meantime, their children were growing. In October 1945 Luciano
started working in the factory " Olivetti ", a good help for
the family.
In successive years also Anna and Angelina worked, giving their
contribution.
Luciano married Laura in 1957 and his sisters went to England to work
in a tailor's shop.
Luciano and Laura would have 3 daughters, Lorena in 1960, Silvia in 1964
and Katia in 1972. They are all living in Ivrea except for Silvia, who lives
in the U.S.
Lorena is married to Enrico and they have one daughter: Paola.
Silvia has one son: Nicky, and has a baby on the way, she is married to
Greg.
Katia is married to
Massimo and they had twin babies, a boy and a girl, Maurizio & Giulia,
in the year 2002.
In 1958 Angelina married William, an American Soldier stationed in England,
and they went to live in the US. They would have four children, Mary in
1959, Lisa in 1961, John in 1962 and Bill in 1965.
Mary married Jim and
they had four children: Charles, Rina, Dustin and Michelle.
Lisa is married
to Olmedo.
John married Melissa and they had 2 children: Anthony
and Alexandra, he also adopted his step-daughter, Brandy, and also has a
daughter from a previous relationship. Melissa and John are now divorced.
Bill is married to Annette and
they had two boys, Bill III and Austin.
Anna in 1960 returned to Italy after the end of her contract from England,
and she continued to sew, but with the aid of her brother Luciano, she
started working for the "Olivetti" company as a general worker.
She then also worked in the day care center taking care of very small
children of workers of the Olivetti company.
She lives with and takes care of her mother Rina.
They
would live in Canton Fonzetto for a very long
time, in fact it wasn't until 1976
that the family (At this point only Marianno,
Rina and Anna) went to live nearby in an
apartment in a condominium. It was their first
time in a heated house, but on August 4th,
1979 after a short illness, at 6am Marianno
died. His official diagnose was liver failure.
He is buried at the Cemetery of Ivrea, Italy. Rina
continued to work in the garden as she had
done all her life and lived a very full life.
She loved to read and always had a smile on
her face. She also loved to whistle! That is
something I will never forget about her.
Unfortunately in the spring of 2005, she fell
and ended up in the hospital, and sadly, she
never improved. She was bedridden and was in a
lot of pain before she passed away in late
June 2005. She is a special angel now and she
will remain in our hearts forever.
My
personal thoughts, feelings and memories (and
pictures)
For
More Photos of Rina and her family, click here
Nonna
Rina's Descendants
Nonna
Rina had 3 children (plus one stillborn baby
girl they had named Francesca) with her
husband Marianno who passed away in
1979: Luciano, Anna Clara and
Angelina.
The 7 grandchildren in age order:
Mary, Lorena, Lisa, John,
Silvia, Billy and Katia.
And here are the 17 great-grandchildren at last count
they are in age order:
Kristen, Charles, Rina, Anthony,
Alexandra, Paola, Dustin, Alex (stillborn at
full term) Michelle, Nicky, Billy III,
Giulia & Maurizio (twins), Austin,
Connor and Sebastian & Stefania (twins) .
For
Photos of Rina's Descendants, click here