Aunt Ester and Uncle Yonce (Carl) lived upstairs my grandmother and grandfather in Carteret as I was growing up.  Yonce (as everyone called him) was a mason and actually, together with my father Dom, built the brick house on Linden Street in Carteret.   I saw Aunt Ester quite often as she would frequently come downstairs when my father and I would visit with my grandparents who lived downstairs.  Yonce was a quiet hard working man. The thing I remember vividly is his hands which were hard like sandpaper due to handling bricks and cement his whole life. 

Yonce’s family came from Trieste in the very north east corner of Italy.   I remember that they took a trip there and were amazed at what they found.  This very common labored from NJ was a member of a very distinguished, wealthy family in Italy.  They were treated like honored members of the family and were totally impressed by their lifestyle.

Yonce contracted bone cancer and died after an excruciating painful illness.  I remember seeing him lying in bed in severe pain even with morphine.  Aunt Ester died about a year after her husband from cancer.

Aunt Ester and Uncle Yonce had 3 children, Robert and Jean who were older than me, and Richard who is a month younger than me.   Richie and I would play together quite often.  But, he towered over me even though we were the same age.  However, our interactions were limited to the times we visited and became rare once my grandparents died.  When Bobby and Jean married they lived in Carteret with their husbands and children.