Page 45: CHAPTER XIV • MY BROTHER JOSEPH (PEPPINO)
When my brother Peppino left home for America with Grandma at the age of seven in 1912, I was very young. I honestly have no recollection of him then. In essence I met him for the first time when he visited Castelmezzano in 1920. Unfortunately I had only two months’ pleasure of his company, as at that time I was attending a boarding school in Melfi. When summer recess ended, he and Dad accompanied me there that year. I saw him briefly again during the Christmas holidays. Of course while I was with him, I was the proudest boy in town, introducing my older brother to everyone.
Joe was a practical joker and a prankster. Here are a few examples:
When I first started working on the same job with him at 825 Fifth Avenue, the construction office was located on the second floor, and there was a coin phone on the sidewalk directly below. Joe and his helpers would fill the phone receiver with ketchup, ring that number and ask me to run down to answer it. As I placed the receiver to my ear I was smeared with ketchup, and to top that off, as I came out of the booth I would be the recipient of a bucket of cold water.
Another prank was to tell me to run up the stairs to the 15th floor to Jim Stewart, the bricklayer foreman, and ask him for the skyhook. When I asked Jim for it he would tell me to go and get it from his brother George, the plumber foreman in the basement. There the committee of pranksters was waiting, and bursting out in laughter.
Soon after that, while on the same job Uncle Joseph invited me to his beach home in Deal, New Jersey for the weekend. I bought a cheap bag for the occasion. Next morning I left the packed bag in the office. That afternoon when I was ready to leave, I picked up the bag and the handle broke off. On opening it I found the bag stuffed with bricks and horse manure. I was angry, but everyone acted very innocent and blameless. Nevertheless they all chipped in for a new bag and clothes.
A few years later when Joe returned from Reno in 1932, he stayed with the Baumgartens in Woodstock, New York. I drove up to see him. I found that the Baumgartens children, Ludwig and Rudi, had been tutored by Joe in Italian conversation to simply end the English word with an “a” or an “o” depending on the word. For instance Bread was Breado, Glass was Glasso. This method had even somewhat fooled the children’s tutor, a Harvard graduate named Mr. Lawton. When I said something to Joe in Italian, the children did not understand me and were surprised that my Italian was not as good as Joe’s.
Brother Joe returned with me to New York that weekend, where he obtained a job with the doctor at the Windmill Farms. Besides his pranks, Joe was really good to me.
Thereafter, together we spent many weekends in Woodstock, where we had many adventures escapades. He was always a lot of fun to be with, and we became very close. He left so many good memories to remember him by.
Joe found great joy revealing silly mistakes, and making really funny jokes out of them. He would convert a simple happening into an incredible tale.
Joe was the best man at my wedding.
Joe and Connie McDonald were married on December 7, 1940, while he was working for the Campagnas in Stamford and Hartford, Connecticut. Later on he worked on several large housing projects in Fort Lee, New Jersey and lived in Teaneck, New Jersey. He also worked as construction superintendent on my project of Park Terrace Gardens in 1948-49.*
Page 46: Joe and Connie separated in 1952. She returned to New York, and he moved in with us in Englewood. During that period, John Massari and I formed a partnership with a new company called Paterno Bros., Inc.
After the divorce from Connie in 1953 Joe’s life was in chaos. He felt rejected and this naturally affected him, finally resulting in his resignation. In 1956 he obtained a construction superintendent job with Joseph Campagna in St. Louis, Missouri.
Soon after settling in St. Louis Joe and a co-worker purchased a large parcel of land with a barn in Festus, Missouri, and shortly thereafter Joe bought his partner’s share.
Eventually Joe met Helen Taylor in St. Louis, and his life immediately began to readjust. With Helen’s love, understanding and patience, the result was a union of many happy years. Joe did very well financially and Helen kept her job for many years. Some years later when Joe Campagna’s business dissolved Joe retired and they moved permanently to Festus. He built two homes on the property. The first one, which Louise and I visited in 1965, was a lovely fieldstone home. It was burned down by young vandals. Subsequently he converted the barn to the present unique country home.
He installed thick exposed hewn timbers for ceiling beams, and rough red cedar paneling on the walls, and a home-made front entrance door. In the living room he built a large local-stone fireplace, with a thick wood mantel supported by selected weirdly shaped stone brackets.
Joe and Helen spent uncounted days of hard labor gathering and installing the stone steps and retaining walls. A large tree trunk with log legs serves as the chopping block in the kitchen. Of course, Helen carefully selected the proper antique furniture and fixtures to suit the motif. On the side and rear of the house there are always long-and-high stacked piles of fireplace logs. There is a large vegetable garden, and flower everywhere. He built and set up feeders to nurture the native cardinals and other birds and squirrels.
Joe always loved dogs. He had a very well trained German Shepherd called “Peppi” in Festus. Peppi was Joe’s constant, inseparable companion. Peppi died of old age before Joe became very ill, and he truly felt his absence.
When Joe was well, whenever we visited him he displayed warmth and ardent emotion. He was bright and happy, welcomed us and friends cordially, and was carried away with joy. He helped his neighbors and friends with construction problems. When he and Helen first moved to Festus, he helped to improve the Baptists church that Helen attends, near their home.
Joe had been ill for a long time, but he made it a rule not to divulge his ailing to anyone. Even in his worst periods of illness, he wanted no one to know or to see him thus. He suffered terrible, especially in the last few months of his life. Helen, his devoted wife, nursed him and did whatever was humanly possible to ease his pains and to please him, day and night until his last breath.
He died January 25, 1984, and was buried in the spot he had selected, in the Baptist church cemetery.
We all loved him and will miss him. May the Sacred Heart of Jesus have mercy upon him.
Next: MY BROTHER CHARLES
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