Coniglio Newsletter I-2

News Flash

	Garett Wright scored his first ice hockey goal last Friday night, December 9, 2005.
It was at a scrimmage that he played during the 2nd intermission of the Eastern Illinois University and Purdue University hockey game. It was unassisted, too!!

A Trip to Pittston, PA

We haven't been able to find the exact connection, but we know that Gaetano Vincenzo (and possibly Rosa and Gaetano junior) spent some time in Pittston, Pennsylvania.
We recently visited Pittston, and found that there is still a Serradifalco Society that holds meetings there! You can read about this family history at the new Pittston page.

This is the second edition of a Coniglio Family Newsletter. If you have some news to share with your cousins, please e-mail me at
nospam.ConiglioFamily@aol.com (remove the "nospam." before using it), and I'll include it when the newsletter is periodically updated.

Quest' è lo secondo edizione dello Bolletino della Famiglia Coniglio. Se ha quale notizie per condividere con gli vostri cugini, prego E-mail a me a
nospam.ConiglioFamily@aol.com (levarli la "nospam." primo di usarli), ed lo includero quando il bolletino è aggiornato.

Click here for previous issue.

Click here for next issue.

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Site Index

Angelo's Surgery

Angelo Coniglio has been in the hospital with various problems since August. He had spinal fusion in September and is still in surgery recovery, hoping to start in-hospital rehabilitation soon. Send him a card or visit him at Room 764, Erie County Medical Center, 462 Grider Avenue, Buffalo, NY 14215.
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Illinois Visit

Frank and Dawn Sowa and Gabrielle and Francesca, with Aunt Mary Sowa went to the annual June bug Jamboree At Tara and Clint Wright's, and had the fabled "Goose-bites" (it's an Illinois thing). They also visited Aunt Connie Miller and Emma Feingold, both of whom are recovering from hospital stays.
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"New" Relatives

Recent relatives I have met or contacted are Gloria Brown Raver and her mother Josie Falzone Brown, related through the Di Giugno/Alessi line; Bob Bucci, related to the LoQuasto's of Pittston, and Leslie Kenneth Gatewood, who is the great-great-great-great grandson of my g-g-g-g grandparents Arcangelo and Filippa Alessi, and has provided me with a list of DOZENS of "new" relatives, mostly in California.

(click here for some photos)

From Belgium

Our cousins Antonina Coniglio and her husband Vito Barca from Belgium spent the summer at their ancestral home in Serradifalco. Antonina and her family have kept in frequent contact with e-mails, cards and telephone calls to Aunt Mary, and we're lucky to have found such loving relatives.

I nostri cugini Coniglio Antonina ed il suo marito Barca Vito dal Belgio hanno speso l'estate a casa loro ancestrali in Serradifalco. Antonina e la sua famiglia hanno mantenuto in frequente contatto con i E-mail, le schede e le telefonate alla zia Maria e siamo fortunati trovare tali parenti affettuosi.
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Hailey Weds

Hailey Miller and Jeff Hedges were married June 5th. Jeff is leaving to serve in Iraq for a year. We all congratulate Jeff and Hailey, and wish them both the best of luck.

Veterans Among Us

Every year on Veterans Day, we read that more and more men and women who served the U.S. in World War II are passing away. Please take the time to thank those that you know who served to make our way of life possible.
We have a few in our own family. Uncle Guy served in the Navy before Pearl Harbor. Uncle Ray was with the 47th Infantry Regiment of the 9th Infantry Division in Africa, Sicily, France and Germany. Uncle Frank Sowa was with the Army in the Pacific theater of operations. Call them now. Just say "Thanks!".

SWAP SHEET

There are people of all ages in our family, and of course, we sometimes outgrow some of our things.
This spot is for anyone who has a toy, a bed, an article of clothing, etc. that may no longer be useful in your immediate family, and you'd like to sell, exchange or simply give it to a cousin who may still get some use out of it. Tell me about it, and I'll post it here.

New Coal Miners Museum

The Coal Miners Museum in Robertsdale, PA, is expanding from its site at the Reality Theatre, into a different building. Some functions will remain in the theatre, but the new site will allow improved displays of the town where Gaetano, Rosa, Guy, Leonard, Ray and Phil lived, and the mines where Gaetano worked.
If you'd like to contribute to this preservation of your heritage, please send a check to:

The Coal Miners Museum
Improvement Fund
Main Street
Robertsdale, Pennsylvania 16674

	When Wilbur J. Childs, an advocate for mentally ill people living in substandard conditions, retired from his county job in 1988, he received the greatest possible tribute from another leading advocate. "Wilbur Childs was a one-man emergency mental-health system," said Lynne M. Shuster, founder of the Erie Alliance for the Mentally Ill. "He was the option of last resort for families with mentally ill loved ones. And he still cared after 28 years.		When news of his death spread, one of his sons, Paris, got a phone call from a woman who said her brother never would have gotten SSI benefits if it hadn't been for Mr. Childs. "His legacy was that as long as he was on this earth, he wanted to make it a better place, and he did," Paris Childs said. A native of Pembroke, Mr. Childs graduated from Pembroke High School and earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Buffalo in 1958. Before graduating from college, he served in the Korean War as a member of the U.S. Marines from 1951 to 1953. An avid runner, Mr. Childs ran in 10 Skylon Marathons and earned trophies in many other races. He also was an accomplished poet, who had two of his poems published in the International Library of Poetry's best poems of 2003. He also wrote dozens of poems from the perspective of the schizophrenic's mind. In retirement, he continued his frequent practice of writing letters to the editor, often on the plight of the economically disadvantaged. Surviving are his wife of 27 years, the former Rosemary Coniglio; four daughters, Carolyn Lundberg of Frewsburg, Penny DeYoung of Akron, Joanna Schrock of Akron and Heidi of Plattsburgh; four sons, Timothy of Lockport, Allen of Colorado, Paris of Akron and Jeremy of Plattsburgh; three sisters, Helen Atwell of Batavia, Shirley Denning of Clarence Center and Dorothy Nowak of Corfu; a brother, David of Batavia; and 12 grandchildren. A private memorial service will be held in Childs Funeral Home, Akron. Burial will be in Pioneer Cemetery, Akron.
That's testimony to an extraordinary human being." Mr. Childs died Sunday in the Center for Hospice & Palliative Care, Cheektowaga, after a brief battle with cancer. He was 75. A longtime West Falls resident, Mr. Childs spent 28 years with the Erie County Social Services Department. He retired as supervisor of a unit that dealt with mentally ill people after they left an institution. In that role, he cut red tape to help clients get their Social Security benefits, proper housing and emergency medical and psychiatric care. Along the way, he battled with landlords, the Social Security Administration and state and county mental health officials. Mr. Childs also was an eager whistle-blower, who never hesitated to cry foul when he saw an injustice; his tips led to investigations of a mentally ill woman dying from repeated beatings and of a Cattaraugus County agency that provided substandard care. "My role is advocacy," he said just before he retired. "The system is designed to destroy the people that it alleges to help."

Volume I, No. 2	The Coniglio Clarion	Nov. 9, 2005