In 1979 my maternal grandfather Carlo Middaugh Paterno (born on 23 November 1907 in Manhattan, New York and died 11 December 1995 in Naples, Florida) wrote a memoir titled “My Family.” You can read it online HERE. In his last year of 1995 two of my cousins, Elizabeth “Liz” Paterno Barratt-Brown and Victoria “Tori” von der Porten Mutch Eurton, interviewed our grandfather and captured the conversations using DAT audio recordings. Those tapes have recently been transferred to modern and accessible audio files and this addendum to his memoir, which he had hoped his interviews would become, is my attempt to fulfill his wishes these many years later. His grandchildren affectionately called him Babbo which means “father” in Italian.
Babbo, you’ve been gone 27 years but your voice, your personality, and your presence are still felt. Wishing you a Happy Father’s Day!
Even when one writes a memoir, as Babbo did, the details of the book – what it includes and what it doesn’t include – are not fully remembered at all times. In some of Babbo’s interviews, made 16 years after he wrote his memoir, he shared stories that he already wrote about in his book. This addendum is an amalgam, not a transcript, of his interviews with little redundancy of the stories in his book.
When listening to Liz and Tori’s interviews with Babbo one thing is clear, based on the sheer repetition of his retelling, and that is his fond memories of being a student at Riverdale Country School (in The Bronx, NY), Milford School (now Milford Academy in Milford, CT), and Yale University (in New Haven, CT). Babbo said that he spent nine years total at Riverdale, minus his senior year, so young Carlo must have arrived in 3rd Grade after attending the Barnard Elementary School in New York City (My Family, page 23). He was a soccer player at Riverdale for all of his nine years there.
Babbo described Riverdale as a private little house for the lower school and eventually a new building was built on top of the hill for the upper school. Babbo’s uncle by marriage, Anthony Campagna, husband of Aunt Marie Paterno, was instrumental in building the new school house.
The 1925-1926 school year was to be Carlo’s senior year, also known as 6th Form, at Riverdale. On a Thursday he purchased the necessary football equipment to play on the team. On Friday he met with Headmaster Frank S. Hackett who informed him that he had not passed the college board exam and would not be promoted to the senior class. When Carlo objected, he was informed that the rules had been changed over the summer unbeknownst to him. The new rule stated that 5th Form students had to pass both the school exam and the college board exam to advance. Carlo had only passed the school exam. Immediately Carlo told his father he didn’t want to return to Riverdale. He had seen the Milford School advertised in Town & Country magazine and asked his father to take him there for an interview on Saturday. Babbo described it as a high pressure preparatory school that develops students for Yale University, run by brothers Samuel and Harris Rosenbaum, both graduates of the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale.
Immediately upon arrival, Harris Rosenbaum offered Carlo a cigarette which he accepted. He told himself that this was a sign that he was in the right place and decided on the spot to attend for one year as a senior. Babbo said that the Rosenbaum’s philosophy was to place only six students in a classroom at a time to engage in repetitive learning (each lesson 8 or 9 times) in order to memorize the material and increase one’s odds of passing the college board exam which he did, earning a mark of 83%. Carlo and his buddy Neil Waterman drove up to New Haven to see if they had been accepted at Yale which they both had. In fact, Neil ended up leading the Yale band. Babbo’s father, Dr. Charles V. Paterno, discouraged young Carlo from attending college at all saying that he himself could teach Carlo more in six months than he’d learn in four years of higher education. One reason Carlo wanted to go to Yale is because his friend from Riverdale, Fred Hobbs, was Yale-bound. Fred had been captain of the Riverdale basketball team and Carlo had great regard for him.
Despite his father’s discouragement he went and as an incoming freshman at Yale, Carlo was subjected to a physical exam for athletics. He was intending to play college soccer, but he was identified as having a sway back so was placed in corrective gym. At that point Carlo decided to focus on academics rather than athletics and studied at the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale. Babbo said that he was interested in chemistry, mechanical drawing, and physics but didn’t like economics, English, or foreign languages. In fact, for one professor, he taught calculus and took the responsibility of writing out the extensive formulas on the blackboard. English was his most difficult subject so he put in extra effort. The first assignment was eight pages of Shakespeare. Rather than just reading and studying it, Carlo memorized all eight pages. The only question on the quiz was: how old was Falstaff? Carlo was perplexed, couldn’t answer, and failed the quiz. The answer was in the footnotes which he neither read nor memorized.
Carlo’s roommate freshman year was Waddy Morton. Berkeley Hall, where most Freshman resided, was already filled up by the time Carlo and Waddy received their acceptance notice so they rented an off-campus two-bedroom apartment. Sophomore year Carlo did stay on campus in Berkeley Hall which was the assigned dormitory for the Sheffield Scientific School students (college students stayed in Harkness). Junior year Carlo roomed with Harry Pollard in Harkness Pavilion and was the only Sheffield Scientific School student to do so. They had a beautiful room with a leather couch, two chairs, and a fireplace. Each had his own bedroom and used the community bathroom in the hall.
At Yale Carlo had an Indian Scout motorcycle that he would ride after dinner to put on a show for the kids at school. He’d stand up on the seat, ride backwards, and do other tricks. He and his friends would ride to Milford (about 25 miles away) to meet up with the girls who came up by trolley from Bridgeport, Connecticut. During the winter, it was a cold affair riding a motorcycle so they would ride close to the backs of trucks, vans, and other larger vehicles to be shielded from the oncoming cold air. Unfortunately if the front vehicle suddenly stopped, the motorcyclist didn’t have much time to react which is exactly what happened to a friend. The bus in front suddenly slammed on the brakes causing the motorcyclist to slide under the bus which then subsequently ran over his leg. Carlo immediately sold his motorcycle. Next he had a convertible La Salle with a windshield for the people in the back seat and spare tires tucked into the fenders. It was with this car that Carlo, according to him, held the speed record for driving to all-female Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts.
Anyone who knew Carlo Paterno knew that he valued a good prank. As a sophomore at Yale, Carlo and a friend dressed in overalls and carried sledgehammers. They went into Berkeley Hall where the freshman were moving in and started banging on the radiators. When asked, Carlo and his partner “in crime” informed the freshman student that they had not yet paid their radiator rent yet so the radiator had to be removed. Begging to have it left in place, the unsuspecting freshman paid the $5 per radiator “rent” and the “workmen” went their merry way….on to the next room to pull the same prank.
As a senior Carlo played golf on the Yale team with a 4-handicap. Babbo said that in those days all the irons had wooden shafts and to make the joints tight, you had to put it in the toilet so that the wood would swell.
Carlo graduated from the Sheffield Scientific School at Yale in 1930 and, in the Fall, went to work for his father in the building business. But before he got serious, over the summer Carlo and his half-nephew Boyd Brown, seven years his junior and who was like a brother, traveled to Europe together. [Carlo’s mother Minnie had married her first husband Rufus Brown and had son Lyndon who had five children, including Boyd, before marrying her second husband Dr. Charles V. Paterno, Carlo’s father.] Carlo was 23 years old and Boyd was just 16 years old when they took this adventure together as a way to celebrate Carlo’s graduation. They went to Naples, Italy, the Island of Capri, then stayed much of the summer at the Lido, the beach, in Venice. Carlo heard that Helen Cotillo, a young lady in whom Carlo was interested, was coming to Lido so, in true prankster form, he bought a monocle to impress her. He practiced and practiced holding it in his eye and knew that he had to carry a backup in case it fell. He said that Helen came along and he got so excited, the monocle fell out and broke. Undeterred he cut in as she danced with another young man and made her promise him to not make any decisions about marrying anyone until she got back to the states. Four years later they would be engaged.
At Lido, Carlo was paying $50 per day for room and meals. He already had the return passage tickets but he could no longer afford to pay for the room so he acted on a tip given to him. He was encouraged to become a paid guest in Hungary so he went to the travel agent and requested the most expensive room in Hungary. The Hungarian government was encouraging citizens to open their houses to Americans and the most expensive room was just $3 per day. He and Boyd packed up, sent ahead a telegram, and headed toward Budapest. The telegram office accidentally left off the “no” on Carlo’s last name, so the Hungarian family was expecting Boyd Brown and Carlo Pater which is the word for “father.” They thought they were hosting a priest! The host, a Baron, was relieved this wasn’t the case and invited them into his home for six weeks. The Baron, who owned nearly the whole town, opened his wine cellar to Carlo and Boyd, provided a man to polish their shoes and a maid to do their laundry. Carlo taught the Baron’s sons English. Using his acquired manners Carlo would seat the Baron’s wife at the table and take her arm when crossing the street. The Baron perceived this as Carlo making advances toward his wife and said that he was going to “fix him up” by placing him on a stallion. Little did the Baron know that Carlo was already an excellent rider.
In the Fall after graduation Carlo went to work for his father, Dr. Charles V. Paterno, in the Chanin Building at Lexington and 42nd Street. Carlo’s apprenticeship included being the painting inspector. After apartment tenants moved out, the apartment would be given a fresh coat of paint in preparation for the next tenant and Carlo would inspect the painter’s work. In 1936 Charles and Carlo moved their office into the Chrysler Building on the 64th floor in the corner. Carlo said that before leaving for lunch they had to call down to the lobby receptionist to see if it was raining outside. Being so high up in the clouds, it wasn’t possible to know the current weather status at street level.
Around 1937 Charles and Carlo moved their office to Greenwich, Connecticut. In preparation for the destruction of the Paterno Castle and the construction of Castle Village in 1938, they then moved their office to the construction site back in New York City.
Helen and Carlo were engaged August 14, 1934 and married on November 23, 1934. They honeymooned on Honolulu, Hawaii, where their first daughter Toni was conceived. Carlo said that his mother insisted that his first child be named after him, but he wanted to name her Antoinette. So Carla, born on August 19, 1935, was her name, but she’s always been referred to by family as “Toni.” Second daughter Patricia or “Patti” came along on October 28, 1938 and then third daughter Mina or “Mimi” was born on October 22, 1945.
Soon after returning from their honeymoon, while living in New York City, Carlo and Helen bought Meadow Lane Farm, 125 acres on Baxter Road in North Salem, Westchester County, New York in 1935. They ended up selling the property before World War II and repurchased it after the war ended.
While Dr. Paterno was busy with brother-in-law Anthony Campagna (married to Marie Paterno) with the construction of Castle Village, Carlo was busy constructing Round Hill in Connecticut for his parents. Charles and Minnie lived together at Round Hill for just a short time as Minnie much preferred their former home at Windmill Farm, a 1,240 acre estate in Armonk, New York, that Charles started amassing in 1919, to which they returned. Minnie died there in 1943 and after Charles’ death in 1946, Carlo sold Round Hill. Carlo kept the office at Windmill Farm while he developed the estate, building 60 single-family homes, 6 miles of roads, and a water company, until he sold it in 1955. It was here that he remembers his eldest daughter Toni operating the switchboard one summer. Afterward Carlo moved his office from Armonk to Mt. Kisco, NY. Carlo says that developing Windmill Farm was probably the biggest business accomplishment of his life.
Not only did Charles vacate and demolish the Castle to build Castle Village, he also headed about 34 corporations that he wanted to consolidate. He decided that the corporate tax code was more favorable as a resident of Connecticut rather than New York, so Charles established Round Hill as his primary residence and encouraged Carlo to follow suit.
While Carlo was building Round Hill for his parents, he built a home on Winding Lane in the William Rockefeller subdivision in Greenwich, Connecticut, for his family. They lived here about five years until Carlo entered the Air Force in 1942. Carlo rented out the house while he and his family were stationed in Dayton, Ohio. It was customary for servicemen, even if a lease were in place, to be able to re-obtain their homes when their military duty was complete. The tenants of Winding Lane didn’t want to leave so Carlo offered to sell the house to them, which they accepted.
Soon after Carlo purchased a house in Ridgebury, Connecticut, about 30 miles away, for his family. Known as Apple Hill Farm, it was built in 1834 and Carlo renovated it for Helen and their three daughters. Carlo said that he’d leave his office in the city after work, head to the farm in North Salem to check on things and have dinner, then head to the house in Ridgebury to sleep. He said it was complicated because wherever he was, he never seemed to have the right clothes with him. Before baby Mina turned one-year-old, the family moved into Meadow Lane Farm on Baxter Road full-time in 1946.
Graduation from Yale helped Carlo obtain the initial commission of Second Lieutenant in the Air Force when he enlisted after the attack on Pearl Harbor during World War II. Carlo’s father was a friend of the Postmaster General in Washington D.C. whom Carlo went to see in pursuit of this appointment. While at the Air Force School at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, Carlo’s mother Minnie died on March 29, 1943. Carlo was unable to attend her funeral for if he left the school at Miami, he’d have to repeat the 6-week school all over again and he didn’t want to do that because he thought it was so boring. Carlo was assigned to Wright Patterson Field from 1942 to 1945. Carlo, Helen, Toni, and Patti lived in Oakwood, a residential suburb, in Dayton, Ohio. They raised dachshunds and sold the puppies. Carlo was in charge of renovating the steel high school in Dayton. He was soon promoted to First Lieutenant and eventually to Captain.
General Summerville assembled a team of eight members from different services. Carlo was the only one from the Air Force. They were tasked to get more heavy-duty tires made for military trucks. After the Bulge, invasion trucks were being transported to France from Britain where the roads were terrible. When the $50,000 military trucks got flat tires, they were abandoned because there were no spare tires. Summerville wanted production to increase 40% in the United States. Carlo, from his office in Akron, OH, contacted every tire company in the country. His project had top priority after the Manhattan District Project so he was able to make things happen relatively quickly. Carlo worked with the head man at General Tire who just needed more conveyors to get the job done. Carlo got them for him in three days and eventually he was able to increase production by 40%. Summerville’s group was disbanded and the servicemen went back to their respective jobs. Shortly thereafter Summerville called up the same eight men again and wanted another 40% increase. Carlo said he “damn near fell off the chair.” Carlo got Bob Hope to talk to the tire manufacturers to inspire them to make this happen for America. The problem, according to Carlo, is that manufacturers (Goodyear, Mohawk, Lee, Firestone) wanted their name on each tire and preferred making tires for automobiles for that very reason. Heavy-duty tires were not branded. Nonetheless, they were able to increase production by 40% again thanks to American innovation and determination. Carlo said that this is one of the best jobs he had in the service.
When his father Charles got sick, Carlo appealed to get released from service seeing as the Japanese had already made motions to surrender. Carlo said his boss told him that had he stayed just one more month that he would have been promoted to Major. Charles died on May 30, 1946 while Carlo and family (with the addition of baby Mimi) were living in Westchester County at Meadow Lane Farm.
It was here that Carlo became Master of Foxhounds in 1949 for six years, succeeding Mr. Parrish and joint-mastering with Dan McKeon in later years. He would hold meets at his farm and serve lunch afterwards. At the time of recording, Toni had told her father that she recently saw Dan McKeon who attended Yale and had seven children. Carlo said that for 17 years he used to take them all to school – on his way to taking his three girls to the Rippowam School, he’d pick up the McKeon children just down the road.
On Saturday afternoons Carlo would teach fox hunting lessons and etiquette to younger riders. Even though he was up at 4AM to prepare for the 6AM hunt, he taught afterwards. Daughters Toni and Patti became interested in riding and would come along on hunts. Both girls went to the Foxcroft School. Patti turned out to be the better rider and won Mussolini’s Hat which was the award for the best rider in the school. Mimi had a little pony that he bought her, but it didn’t jump too well so she’d have trouble following the hunt. Babbo remembers her in pigtails and her little riding hat (photo on Page 102 in My Family) and was so cute riding her little pony. Father and daughter would show together in horse shows. On the farm they had an authentic Sicilian cart and a little donkey (photo on Page 57 in My Family) from Europe which Patti would drive around.
For the hunts there were no native foxes in North Salem so Carlo bought them from Kansas City in early Spring. They would feed the foxes and try not to let them get killed during the hunts. When the fox went into the ground they’d let it stay there. Carlo thought they were so clever how they’d walk the rock walls so that hounds wouldn’t pick up their scent. Eventually Mr. Parrish didn’t want the fox hounds at his property anymore so Carlo gave the Goldens Bridge Hounds some land to build new kennels and a new place for the huntsman to live. At the time of recording (1995) this facility was still being used.
Carlo, Helen, and their three daughters lived at Meadow Lane Farm until 1961. After the their three daughters were off at school, the farm was too big for Carlo and Helen so it was sold to Mr. Van Bomel who was the head of Sheffield Farms in New York City and who married a woman from the Breyer family. Babbo said that last year (1994) when he went hot air ballooning in France they were with a Breyer couple. Carlo asked if they knew Mr. Van Bomel to which they replied they did and had visited his farm. Carlo was delighted as he knew that this was his former Meadow Lane Farm.
The “New” Meadow Lane Farm house, designed by Edward Durrell Stone, was built in 1962 at Grant’s Corner, not far from “Old” Meadow Lane Farm on Baxter Road. Stone was a well-known architect and Carlo was intent on having him design their new home. It took Carlo several months to secure an appointment with Mr. Stone who went to Europe once and California twice before agreeing to see Carlo. As soon as Carlo walked into Mr. Stone’s office, Mr. Stone said “Mr. Paterno, I want you to know that I don’t design private houses anymore.” Carlo said “Well, Mr. Stone, that’s fine. I have the plans for the Celanese house that you designed and I really want to use those plans, so you really don’t have any new design work to do.” Carlo said Mr. Stone finally relented. According to Carlo Mr. Stone would come up while the house was being built and sit under the big tree in front and have his sandwich. The modern house featured glass pyramids over every room, a swimming pool, and brick cobblestones from New York City. Mr. Stone told Carlo that he had to call the new structure “Piazza Paterno” so Carlo had a little sign made in Portugal with the name and had it placed into the stone wall. Helen built a little cottage by the stream for cookouts with a fireplace and they would grill out on Sunday afternoons. They would hear the deer at night when spending the night near the stream which Carlo said scared them as it sounded like thieves rustling in the bushes.
Carlo kept their duplex apartment on the 7th floor at 230 Central Park South which was filled with French antiques which they ended up liking more than the modern furniture at New Meadow Lane Farm. Carlo loved looking out the windows over the park and being only one block from the New York Athletic Club where there was good food and great massages and they were able to walk to shows and entertainment. Carlo and Helen lived at New Meadow Lane Farm until they moved south in 1970. They sold the new house and their entire New York City holdings, including 230 Central Park South and Castle Village.
They rented at first and then in 1972 Carlo and Helen bought and remodeled their gulf coast home at 23 Sixth Avenue North in Naples, Florida, and Carlo built The Corner business building in 1974 at 3rd Street and Broad Avenue South.
They moved to their Royal Cove apartment before Helen died on 22 May 1988. Carlo said for a year he didn’t go out with anybody and got lonesome so he started going out with divorcees and widows in Naples, Florida. He dated eight different women and took a liking to Maryanne Harrington who traveled with him to Alaska. Carlo thought she was a very nice person but not affectionate enough and she suggested that he go out with “this blonde named Christine.” He didn’t know Christine. A friend Priscilla Jones invited him to the Commodore’s Ball at the Yacht Club but he begged for a raincheck because he didn’t like “dressing up in a monkey suit” (aka tuxedo). Priscilla said “too bad because I was going to seat you next to a beautiful blonde named Christine.” With all this talk of blonde Christine, Carlo asked his friends at the Naples Athletic Club if anyone knew her. Bob Price raised his hand and said “I know Christine Montgomery. She owns half of Kansas City.” Carlo thought that was good enough for him so he called her up asked if they could have dinner together sometime. He didn’t hear from her for ten days so he wrote her off. Then she called on Monday and said she’d been out of town so they made plans for dinner Wednesday. Carlo said he’d give her two days to check up on him. Carlo arrived at her home in Windermere and rang the doorbell for a woman who he’d never met. When she opened the door Carlo was struck by her beauty. They had a lovely meal together and made plans to meet again on Friday. They discussed that neither wanted to get married again and met up eight nights in a row. Their friend Harold told Carlo that he ought to marry Christine to which Carlo said “Holy Christmas, I’ve only known her about four days!” In three weeks time Carlo and Christine got very close. She left on a scheduled trip to Kansas City and Colorado. Carlo called her and said that she’d better come back to Naples because he didn’t think he could live without her. Kneeling on his prayer rug, he asked her to marry him over the phone. They married on 23 June 1991. As of the recording on 5 March 1995, they’ve been married four years and Carlo shares that tomorrow is Christine’s birthday for which he has a big party planned for her at the Yacht Club.
As of the recording in August of 1995 Carlo, Christine, and granddaughter Liz were in Naples, Italy. They drove down from Rome in a van and had plans to visit Castelmezzano, from where the Paterno family emigrated, the next day. Plans were to meet up with cousin Ralph Ciluzzi, Jr., son of Theresa Paterno, and his wife Luciana. Ralph speaks Italian and English and wants to show them the Paterno family home where they plan to spend one night with Tilde, Saverio Paterno’s granddaughter, and then return to Naples the next day. Carlo said that Rome was very crowded and is thankful to have Liz along who speaks Italian. After leaving Italy they will go to Zurich, Switzerland, to meet Buddy Bombard and his group for some hot air ballooning.
Carlo first met Buddy Bombard in 1989 when, after Helen died, Carlo’s friend Betsy Harmond, who lived in his condominium, encouraged him to go hot air ballooning. So Carlo called up his middle daughter Patti and they decided to go to Bonn, Germany, and hot air balloon over historic castles. Then a couple of years later after marrying Christine, they got on a barge in Dijon, France, and went to down to Bonn, Germany. On the way back they went hot air ballooning and came down over a monastery which had peaked dormer windows. Carlo was apprehensive about hitting one of the peaks which they just cleared but came down between two trees in between which they got stuck. A line was thrown out of the basket and they were pulled safely out of the trees.
When asked if he’d do anything different with his life if he had it to live over again, Carlo said that he’d do very little differently. He’s had a very full life, he’s been around the world, and he’s happy to be in Naples, Florida because he thinks it’s the best place in the whole world to live. He and Christine have a nice duplex apartment at Royal Cove that they renovated from two separate apartments after they were married. He said he’s very happy to belong to the Naples Athletic Club which is a luncheon and bridge club. He said that if he makes $4 to $5 dollars a day playing bridge then that’s a good day. He stays active going to the office every day with Josephine [Bocchino] who has been his secretary for over 31 years. He runs The Corner building that he built in 1974 and deals in the stock market which he studies closely. He says that he has more female friends than male friends because he likes girls more than he likes boys. Carlo said that when he’s dead and gone that he’s sure a lot of girls that he went out with will remember him. Eight months after answering this question, Carlo would pass away.
On this Father’s Day, 19 June 2020, we honor you Babbo. We treasure your recollections and stories and we hope somehow you know that your words are still being preserved and shared.
Carlo’s Photos from Castelmezzano, August 1995:
Two more great photos of Babbo:
