Aunt Ann and Uncle Mike never went on vacation because they were afraid to travel.   So after Rose and I were married (and before we had Rosalie) we convinced Aunt Ann and Uncle Mike to come with us on two great vacations – first to Hawaii, and then to California[3].  We really enjoyed their company and they were so happy to have this unique experience.  One thing that because clear is that Aunt Ann and I were very much alike and Rose and Uncle Mike were very much alike.  For example, at dinners, Aunt Ann and I would eat quickly and then wait while Rose and Uncle Mike more slowly ate their meals.

Note: Joe & Rose Ragucci have photo slides of these vacation trips.

While I was growing up and my grandmother was still alive, I saw Aunt Ann and Uncle Mike several times a year when they came to Carteret, NJ on weekends.   It was quite common for my father and I to go there when they visited.  I remember many Sunday dinners in the basement of my grandparents home especially when Uncle Pat also came. 

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Aunt Ann said that when she was young, she was “backward” in that she was not outgoing.  She was especially afraid of her father.  Her sister (Rose) was just the opposite and Rose was the one who got her out of the house (see Rose stories below).   Her brother Pat was always very protective of her even though he had left the house at an early age.

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While I was growing up and my grandmother was still alive, I saw Uncle Pat several times a year when he came to Carteret, NJ on weekends. It was quite common for my father and I to go there when he visited. I remember many Sunday dinners in the basement of my grandparents home especially when Aunt Ann and Uncle Mike also came. Typically, his wife Angie would not come.

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Uncle Pat’s father was a hard man to live with (as her daughter Ann recalled).   Uncle Pat left as a teenager and went to live in New York City where he remained for the rest of his life.  There he was involved in several interesting pastimes. 

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Recollections by Joe Ragucci (grandson):

When my grandparents were alive and living in Carteret, my father and I would stop by and visit every Sunday, usually in the morning.  My mother (Rose) had passed away and my father had remarried (Marge) but my Dad and I went religiously.   My recollections are of my grandmother cooking in the kitchen and my grandfather smoking a cigar usually on the back porch.  My grandfather was a tough man who said very few words.  My grandmother was very “motherly” and was always trying to feed you (like a good Italian grandmother). 

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Recollections by Ann Nardi Kusklyk (daughter) as remembered by Joe & Rose Raguci :

Aunt Ann would tell us about her father’s parrot who would curse in Italian. They were so embarrassed when people came to visit.   She also remembers being so afraid of her father.  But her sister Rose wasn’t afraid. When he would turn his back, she would salute him with “heil-hitler”.  But he never understood that she was insulting him with this action calling him a tyrant.