Who is Fran Carpino?

Hello, I’m Fran Carpino – Officially known as Francesca.

How old were you when your family arrived in Orillia from Italy?

I was just over 3 years and my father had arrived two years before. He emigrated in 1951 and he had to earn passage for my mother and two other sisters to join him. He worked on the railway and was able to travel across Canada and there were a few Italians that were in Orillia, so he decided to make it our home, so then he was able to send for us and my uncle (my dad’s younger brother – he was single and he accompanied my mother and sisters on the crossing).

We were on the Saturnia and my mom was quite ill on the crossing, so thank goodness for Uncle Mike as he really helped with us and he would take me to the dining room. I guess the order of the day was that for every person at the table, they gave a bottle of wine – so for Uncle Mike (he was 19 – early 20’s), he tells the story that he was always able to get 2 bottles of wine because of me sitting beside him.