Sobey Wall of Honour
Column
126
Row
16
Maria Pia Mastrangelo
Born in Oratino, Italy in October, 1934.
Arrived at Pier 21 on January 15, 1953 aboard the Italian Liner Saturnia.
I immigrated to Canada together with my Mother Rosa and my brother Giovanni, to join my father Michele in Ottawa who landed at Pier 21 exactly one year before. It was not an easy task landing in Halifax in the middle of winter, the cold weather and everything from the food to the landscape was very strange to me; very different than southern Italy. The train we boarded was old and the wooden seats offered very little comfort for our long journey from Halifax to Ottawa that seemed never-ending. We joined my father in Ottawa and for six months we shared a house in the suburbs with two other families. We then we moved to the city to Little Italy. I learned the language, got a job and started to love Canada. I became a Canadian Citizen in 1957 and then I applied to sponsor my fiancé Luigi Petti from Italy.
Luigi Petti
Born in Oratino Italy in December, 1938.
Arrived at Pier 21 on June 14, 1958 aboard the Italian Liner Saturnia.
It was a very cold and windy day in Halifax Harbour for June on the day of my arrival. After customs and paper work, I went shopping for food to eat on the train. Along the way to Montreal we were offered free corn flakes from Kelloggs but most of us did not know what to do with them. I will never forget the long 24 hour trip to Montreal, on a train of over 100 cars, moving at a very slow speed. Half way to Montreal, the water supply ran out, it was very cold and hard to sleep or rest on the wooden seats. My fiancée Maria Pia and her father Michele were waiting for me at the Montreal train station. It was late in the evening when we finally embraced, happy to be together.
Like everyone else, I experienced the same hardships, adjusting to a new environment and lifestyle. Not being able to practice my trade as a stone mason during the first year in Canada was the most difficult hardship, but soon after I was hired by a company as a stone mason and I worked with that company until my retirement in 2003.
Maria Pia and I were married on September 6, 1958. Over the course of the years we were blessed with three sons and a daughter, all educated and married, and nine grandchildren.
We travel to Oratino, our home town, very often but our love is Ottawa, Canada.
