Page 3 - Italian American Herald - April 2021

ITALIAN-AMERICAN HERALD
REFLECTIONS
Grocery-cart lessons last a lifetime
APRIL 2021 | ITALIANAMERICANHERALD.COM 3
Vol. 8 No. 4 – April 2021
A MONTHLY NEWSPAPER SERVING THE ITALIAN-AMERICAN COMMUNITY
A DIVISION OF TODAY MEDIA Editor & Publisher
Robert F. Martinelli
Art Director
Rosalinda Rocco
This issue’s contributors
Melissa Cannavo-Marino Frank Cipparone Richard A. DiLiberto Maria Teresa Morrison Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo Charlie Sacchetti Murray Schulman
Senior correspondent
Jeanne Outlaw-Cannavo
Managing Editor
Al Kemp
Associate Publisher/Director of Advertising
Charles W. Tomlinson Jr.
Advertising Sales
Tanya Tecce
Audience Development Director
David Bergeman
Production Director
Donna Hill
Graphic Designers
Eric Bolis Chris Johnson Shelby Mills
Editor Emeritus
Joseph T. Cannavo
Ciao Bella Living Italian Style
Barbara Ann Zippi
TODAY MEDIA, A MARTINELLI HOLDINGS LLC
President Robert F. Martinelli Secretary-Treasurer Richard Martinelli
In Memoriam
Chairman Angelo R. Martinelli (1927-2018) Vice President Ralph Martinelli (1962-2019)
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By Richard A. DiLiberto Jr.
We all have defining moments from our early years. When I was about 10 years old,
I remember my father coming home each day, exhausted from his police officer’s shift in Hazleton, Pennsylvania, and then doing a second job working as a private contractor, doing cement work, asphalt work, carpentry, cleaning services, and whatever people called “headache jobs” they didn’t
want to deal with themselves.
My dad’s father (my
grandfather) emigrated from
the Agrigento region of Sicily,
Italy, and instilled values of
hard work in all his children.
My dad passed those values
down to us.
shortage of grocery carts – which became a “headache job” perfect for my father.
My dad made a deal with the Acme manager that he would stack the carts in the back of his bright gold pickup truck, and return them to the Acme in return for 50 cents a cart. I remember those carts would fit one-into-the-other and my dad would nest 20 carts, 10 on the left and 10 on the right
dad and I clattered along in the truck, my friends abruptly stopped the game, all looked up simultaneously, and in unison, pointed stiff-armed at me in the passenger’s seat and laughed uproariously! I remember putting my hand over my face to hide my identity, but they all knew it was I in my dad’s bright gold pickup truck.
After we passed the field, my dad looked over, gently stroked my face
with that work-worn hand, and quietly said, “Are you ashamed of your daddy, Ricky?”
“No. I’m not ashamed, Dad,” I fibbed.
“Don’t you ever be ashamed if you are working your hardest and earning an honest dollar,” my dad replied.
I remembered those words throughout college,
law school, 10 years’ service in the legislature, and 35 years of law practice. And I passed them on to our children. We should always respect and admire anyone who works hard and earns an honest dollar. IAH
Rick DiLiberto, Esq., is Chairman of the Delaware Commission on Italian Heritage and Culture, and a lawyer with the personal injury section in the law firm Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor. He served in the Delaware House of Representatives from 1992-2002.
Contents
Achiever ......................................... 7 Pagina Italiana ............................. 8-9 It’s All Good / News From Italy.......10 Local / Radio .................................11 Vini D’Italia ....................................12 The Chef’s Perspective ..................13 Language .................................14-15 Per I Bambini .................................15
My dad made a deal with the Acme manager that we would stack the carts in the back of his bright gold pickup truck.
I will always remember
his large, strong, bronzed
hands, hardened from years
in the sun swinging a pick
or digging with a shovel. Yet,
they were so surprisingly
gentle when he would hold our hands or stroke our faces.
We had an Acme supermarket near our home, and down the street, a few blocks away, a senior citizen high-rise apartment building. After the senior citizens would shop at Acme, they would slowly wheel their carts filled with grocery bags to the high-rise apartments, and then leave the carts in a jumble in front of the building. It was not long before the Acme had a problem – a dire
of his pickup truck each trip, at a tidy profit of $10 per truckload. He would take me along to help, and give me half the profits, or $5. One sunny Saturday afternoon, we were taking those 20 carts back to the Acme, driving directly past the baseball field where many of my friends were playing a game. Now, I suspect none of you has ever been in a pickup truck carrying 20 shaking, rattling and rolling steel grocery carts up a potholed street, but it is not a quiet journey. As my