Dominic Ragucci – Barber

Dominic has always been a man of many talents.   He joined the marines during WWII and found himself on many small islands in the Pacific.   One of the many issues for the soldiers was how to get a haircut since there were no barbers.  So Dominic decided that it didn’t look too difficult and began cutting the hair of the other soldiers (and it gave him some more spending money to boot).   He continued this throughout the war.

After the war he went to work at the Reading Railroad in Port Reading.   Since he was able to cut hair, he began to do that for his co-workers for a reasonable price.  Thus, he became the railroad barber.    Another interesting fact is that he learned to cut his own hair, which  is no small feat.   

When he had children, it was natural that he saw no need to pay for a barber, so he began to cut their hair also.  In fact, he cut his son Joseph’s hair until he was in his 80’s.

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Dominic Ragucci – WW II Marine

Recently HBO has been airing a miniseries called “Pacific” which focuses on the role of the Marines in the Pacific during World War II.  My dad, Dominic Ragucci, was part of the Marine effort in the Pacific but rarely talked about it.  This was an opportunity to get his to talk about this time in his life.  There are marine photos in the Family History Photo Gallery.

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Aunt from Elizabeth episodes..

Recollections of Dominic Ragucci – 4/16/2010
Recorded by Joe Ragucci

I was talking to my Dad (Dominic Ragucci) about a page from the 1930 Census that I found with a record of the Antonio and Maria Ricucci (affectionately called the Uncle and Aunt from Elizabeth) who were living in Port Reading at the time.  My Dad began to talk about the Aunt and her “episodes” which I believe were due to epilepsy.   Continue reading

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Ragucci, Rose & Joe – “water ceiling lamp”

Recorded by Joe Ragucci.

When I began dating Rose, she lived with her parents at 2 Village Green in Colonia.  Before I met her, her Uncle Jack lived with them for a while and had the upstairs finished into 2 rooms and a bathroom.  After he moved out Rose claimed the upstairs as her own – with a bedroom and a living room.    

In the center of the upstairs living room was a ceiling lamp in the shape of a upside-down bowl.   One day when I was there, she said that the light wasn’t working.  So, I decided to open it up and see what I could do.  The bowl shaped light was held on with a nut in the center.  Unknown to me, the ceiling leaked water.  So as I finished unscrewing the nut, the light bowl quickly came down and spilled water all over the place.  It was filled with lots of water!  Once the lamp dryed up, the light worked again.  From that day on I would check the light and empty any water that it collected.  Obviously the roof was leaking and that’s where it would accumulate.

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Ciaccio, Rose and Rose – “almost hit by car”

I was just a little girl walk down South 5th Street in Brooklyn holding my mother’s hand. Still holding mom’s hand, we arrived at the corner.  Suddenly, my mother felt a pull holding her back from crossing the street. In an instant a car jumped onto the sidewalk directly in front of us. Fortunately, neither of us were hurt. My mother said our guardian angels held us back and kept us safe. I’m sure they did!

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