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Page 127: Autobiography of Lisa Joan Paterno LaBarbera [1928-] Dated July, 2002
I was born the second girl of Charles and Annette Paterno. I lived at Riverside Drive in my early years but did quite a bit of moving as a child to various apartments and houses. The one I loved best was in Riverdale, a yellow brick house with a beautiful garden [in] the rear. Our dad had a beautiful vegetable garden and also raised homing pigeons. If no one was home when I got home from school, I used to eat the fresh vegetables as a snack.
Mom got me into modeling at John Robert Power School at the early age of five. I modeled until I was ten years old. After a modeling job, I was given the clothes that we modeled.
The family moved to an apartment on Sea man Avenue and that’s when my Dad took his leave to unknown places. Since he and I were very close, I was devastated by his departure. I was twelve years old at the time.
Then we moved to Ridge Road in Yonkers, New York. Mom took me for a check up and I was diagnosed with a curvature of the spine. I was encased in a cast from my chest to my hips for many months. I was able to walk with the cast on and allowed to go to school. If one of the kids at school hit me on the back, the received quite a shock.
From Yonkers, the family moved to 75 Ft. Washington Avenue, New York City, New York. We were living there when I went to New York Hospital and had my spine fused. I was laid up for six months, and was home for four of them. Uncle Charlie Paterno [Dr. Charles Vincent Paterno] used to visit me at the apartment quite often. I was fourteen years old at the time.
In 1946, I met Frank LaBarbera, a policeman walking his beat on Broadway at 162nd Street in Manhattan. At the time, I was working at a hosiery store. We became engaged on my birthday and in November of that year we were married and lived with my mother. In March 1949, our son Michael was born and we were fortunate to have found a small apartment at 600 West 178th Street. [Same address as sister Charlotte on Page 119.] When Glenn and Ronald came along, it was evident that we needed a larger place. After a nine-month search, we found a house in Long Island at 14 Lombardi Place, which met our needs. It was a three bedroom split level on a six thousand square foot lot. What a difference!
In 1977, we sold our home of twenty-two years. We don’t move a lot. We then took off for Florida and warmer weather. At first, we rented an apartment in Ft. Myers, Florida. Yow years later, we bought our second home located in Cape Coral, Florida.
I started a new career in Florida working for the County of Lee in the Juvenile Division of the Court house. After thirteen years, I retired in 1990.
As a retiree, I putter in the garden and do volunteer work at the Cape Coral Hospital to keep busy.
That’s all folks!
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