Phone conversation with Jean (Turco) Walko recorded by Joe Ragucci
Over the last week we have been talking as a result of Aunt Ann Kusklyk death. Several items worth recording about the Nardi Family came up and are recorded here (to be moved to a more complete post later).
- Aunt Ann Kusklyk died Jan 19th after getting pneumonia last week. She was one month shy of her 94th birthday. For the last 10 years she was not really alive suffering from alzheimer. This started to be noticed when her husband Michael died. We moved her into a Assisted Living home in Edison for several years until she got so bad that she was moved closer to Jean in Toms River. Over the last 4 years she didn’t even talk any more. Her body was healthy which is why she lived so long.
- We talked about this family history BLOG and Jean mentioned that she has very few photos of her family. She didn’t even know what our grandmothers maiden name was. We agreed to get together when it gets warmer to share what we have.
- She remembers that our grandfather was adopted. In looking at the Ellis Island record it appears that he came to the US with someone who was his brother but had a different last name.
- She remembers that our grandmother was from a wealthy family that disowned her when she married our grandfather. She also remembers her being a poor cook.
- She said that her father (Yonce) worked on a ship and he jumped ship in NY which is how he ended up here. She remembers him talking about be amazed at banana’s which he had never seen. She also remembers his talking about being ashamed of how much he ate so he actually ate at mulitple places so no one knew.
