Uncle Leo Vitale

Brian's Uncle Leo has been undergoing radiation treatment for pancreatic cancer at Stanford Hospital for the past five weeks. Although the circumstances for his visit weren't enjoyable, we've really loved spending time with him. Leo is the oldest of nine children (Brian's mother, Rose was number six). He served in World War II as a airplane engineer and said proudly that none of his planes were ever shot down (pretty remarkable if you ask me!) and that he escaped death twice during the war. After the war, he stayed in the military until he retired. He served in both the Air Force and the Navy.

Leo is a spitfire, as are all the Vitale's. For someone in his 80's and in a lot of pain from the cancer, this man didn't stop moving! Every day we'd go on at least two walks and he'd putter around the house fixing things. One of my most memorable nights with Leo was around the dinner table talking about Brian's mother and their family. This conversation prompted a conference call with Uncle Dante (the youngest of the nine Vitale children) and his wife Umbretta. The two brothers were trying to piece together where their parents (Brian's grandparents) were from in Italy.

Anyone who has been in a room with the Vitale clan knows that their basic form of communication is yelling back and forth "discussing". Mind you, this is all done with unconditional love; they're just really passionate people. If you can imagine, between the two households, we were on three phones yelling over one another(a lot of "whaaaat's" and "no, no no's") in between conversations. It was hilarious! In the end, with the help of Umbretta's proper spellings (she's also from Italy) and google maps, we actually found the villages they were from!

Noni (Bri's grandmother) is from Gioiosa Ionica Reggio de Calabre Calabria, Italia (she's from the heel of the boot if you look at the map) and Nono (Bri's grandfather) is from Pietra Perzia Enna, Italia (this is in Sicily).

It was wonderful having Leo around to also share stories of Brian's mother when they were children. Apparently Nono worked as a "Persuader" for the mob (altough Brian tells a story that if they said "mob" in the home, his mother would yell, "there's no such thing as the mob!") in Boston and when life got dicey they moved to California to start anew. Leo was nine at the time. He tells this funny story about how they practically came to California in a covered wagon filled with kids and a dog. They lived on a farm in San Jose growing their own crops and baking 25 loaves of bread a day that they shared with their neighbors from the outdoor brick oven Nono made with his own two hands. I just love this visual of this Italian family growing fresh vegetables and baking delicious bread...mmmm! It was unclear when the family moved to Lodi but most of the Vitale's are still there, including Leo and Brian's father.

Losing Rose almost four years ago to cancer was tragic and hearing stories about her brought a lot of warmth to our hearts.

Now that Leo is finished with treatment, he'll be heading back home to Lodi. In three months he'll return for another scan to see if the radiation worked. Until then, we hold our breath...

We love you Uncle Leo and we miss you Rose.