One day when my two brothers where young, Mike and Rick were home alone. They were alway rough housing with each other as brother would do. Well, I came home with my father and there was a very large hole in the kitchen wall probably caused by someone being thrown into it. When my father asked what happened, who did it they both said “I don’t know”. And that’s the way it ended. Rather than try and patch the large hole, my Dad just put paneling over it half way up the wall.
Baby Rose
Rose Ciaccio Ragucci – When she was born her father wanted to nickname her “Rose Bud”. But her mother said “don’t call her Rose Bud because it will stick.” So they called her “Baby Rose” instead. And that stuck. Even now her cousin Fran calls her “Baby Rose”.
Several other Ciaccio family members had nicknames:
- Charles Ciaccio’s son Charles Jr was called “Charlie Boy”
- Joe Ciaccio’s son James was called “Jimmy Boy”
Mary’s Advice
Aunt Mary was always was offering me and my cousins what she thought was advice on what we did even though we didn’t want it. We would respond “O Aunt Mary!” But that didn’t stop her from offering her advice.
New Years Day Open House
An annual family tradition was that Aunt Mary would have an “open house” on New Years day in her small apartment and everyone in the family stopped by some time to share in her baked Lasagna. People came and went throughout the day. People were sitting everywhere but it was a great celebration to begin the new year.
Mary Ragucci Funeral Homily
Mary Ragucci passed away at age 99, just 26 days away from her 100th birthday, on Nov 19th 2019. The following homily was given by her nephew Deacon Joe Ragucci at her funeral Mass:
Continue readingAnn & Mike Kusklyk Wedding – 1950
This is a video of Ann & Mike Kusklyk’s wedding in Carteret, NJ in 1950 at the Nardi/Turco home. It includes several generations of the Nardi family including the Nardi grandparents (Jennie and Matteo), their children Ann, Pat, and Rose Nardi (Joe Nardi’s family is absent), and many of the family members in both Pat Nardi and Mike Kusklyk’s family that were living in the Bronx, NY.
Link: http://www.ragucci.net/familystory/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/Kusklyk_Wedding_1950..m4v
NOTE: This video was taken by Dominic Ragucci (who never appears in the video). It was convert first from 8MM tape, then to VHS tape (in 2000), and finally to this MPG video format. Thus, the quality is quite poor since the original was 50 years old when it was first converted.
Deacon Joe’s 25th Anniversary of Ordination
From Metuchen Diocese Catholic Spirit Newspaper – May 2, 2019
Deacon Joseph D. Ragucci 
25th Anniversary of Ordination
Deacon Joseph D. Ragucci has served at St. John Vianney Parish, Colonia, for the. past 25 years. Reflecting on his vocation, he said his path to the diaconate began at st. Joseph Parish, Carteret, where he and his wife, Rose, worshipped for the first 15 years of their marriage.
Weekend at Disney
In celebration of Rosalie’s 40th birthday our family (Rosalie, John, Ben, Joe & Rose) spend a whirlwind weekend at Disney World. Rose and I got a phone call 2 weeks before her birthday asking if we were interested in going to Disney for her birthday weekend. She wanted to celebrate this milestone and we said yes – of course. We took a 6am flight to Orlando and used our Disney Vacation Club points to stay at Old Key West resort. We spend all day Friday and Saturday and even Sunday morning in the parks before returning on a 1:30pm flight to NJ. We had a great time. It was warm (75-80 degrees) and the Cooks even went swimming. It was a once in a lifetime event.
