Here is my monthly Forks in the road column in todays OPT. As a kid growing up at the Forks of the road in the 1950”s, I was very much aware of the ethnic enclaves that existed in Oswego, and the neighborhoods that were primarily Italian, Polish, or Irish. Those were the three biggest immigrant groups that comprised the bulk of 1950”s Oswego. Oswego was a very Catholic community, with seven Catholic churches, three Catholic elementary schools, and a new Catholic high school. Only one of those schools remains today, and the churches have been consolidated in large part, one lies fallow, and another was torn down (the French Canadian Church, St. Louis’s ) and replaced with a Credit Union office. OCHS may be gone., and the old St. Paul’s church and St. Mary’s School torn down, but the ethnic legacy of these institutions and the people who built them lives on. Speaking of ethnic legacies. There are many Oswego families of Sicilian origin. there was a great diaspora from Sicily in the early 1900’s. My late wife’s grandfather, Guisseppe Tesoriero, from Stromboli, was one of them. The Tesoriero name lives on, as do names like Canale, and Vona, and Crisafulli. As I think about it, the name Crisafulli may even be Oswego’s most famous Italian surname. There are lots of famous Oswegonians who bear that surname. I don’t know how they are all related, but I am sure they are. I think of people like Alderman Anthony “Zinkeye” Crisafulli, and Catino “Tink “Crisafulli, and their progeny. I think of Tinks’ son, the late Kenny Crisafulli, chef at the ”other” Oswego Country club on the East River road for many years, and his sister Ann, who is still working occasionally as a waitress at the famed Wade’s diner, where they never write down your order, but simply commit it to memory. And then there was John “Fuddy” Crisafulli , owner of Fuddy’s Sporting Goods store, and aspiring Oswego politician. And the Crisafulli brother’s importing business on East Fourth St.. They specialized in importing bananas and other tropical fruits. And there were the East Fifth St. Crisafulli’s. I have fond remembrances of Freddie’s (Chef Freducci’s) branch of the family. Fred, who I am happy to say I appointed as Oswego’s first and only “Director of Tourism”, is the sole survivor of that clan today, and he still proudly wears his navy uniform. The same blue type uniform that his brother Charles C. Crisafulli was wearing in February of 1942 when his ship, the USS Truxton, was sunk off the coast of Newfoundlad, making him the first American war fatality from Oswego. They named the Italian American War Veteran’s post after him. Fred still greets the Tourist vessels that dock in Oswego, as he has done for many years. We even equipped him with a bright yellow and blue tourist bus, replete with microphone, for narrated tours of the city. The bus has long since gone to rust, but Freddy is still shining on! One of the most unique characters ever to run a business in Oswego was Fred’s late brother Joseph H.(”Joe” ) Crisafulli, who ran the 1850”s house that Fred served as chef for. It was a unique, Greenwich village type combination antique shop , bar , and restaurant . Their veal ala ‘francaise was out of this world, and the Fra Diavlo was to die for as well. It stood near the corner of East Fourth and Bridge Sts., and was decorated in a very elaborate way, with a grand piano at the heart of the dining oom for Joe to serenade customers with. I remember many a night spent there singing along with Joe, who was Oswego’s version of the Man of LaMancha. A high school vocal music teacher who returned here from Long Island, he was a director and producer of many high school musicals, and often performed himself in productions at SUNY Oswego. He was a grand character indeed, and ably assisted , in addition to Fred, by his sister Marge and her husband Bill Mercier, who always had a good joke to tell, and Bill’s laugh was just infectious. I always admired a certain painting that hung on the wall at the 1850”s house , and I used to try to buy it from Joe, every time I went there. He would never sell it. It became a running joke. After my wife died in 1999, Joe showed up at my house and handed me the painting. It is of a young boy guiding a donkey with his girlfriend riding on top. I don’t know why, but I love that painting, and it is today one of my most valued possessions. It hangs proudly on my wall even now. I guess what I love is the contributions to the community that the Crisafulli family have made and continue to make to this day. They are a talented, fun loving, smart,clever, and active bunch. They brought their hearts over from Sicily, and pumped lots of wonderful life’s blood into their newly adopted environment, and Oswego is indeed the better for it. Sicily’s loss was Oswego’s gain. So cheers, and ’ ‘A salute” to all of the Oswego Crisafulli’s. You’re Oswego’s Italian royalty to me. John T.Sullivan Jr.
Posted on: Mon, 03 Nov 2014 14:31:57 +0000
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