Michele and Concetta DeBuono Family

Alumni Type: Immigrant
Country of Origin: Italy
Port of Entry: Halifax
Age on Arrival: 3 years old

My Family will be celebrating 50 years in Canada on March 2nd, 2008, immigrating from our southern roots of Rende ( Cosenza) located in the Province of Calabria, Italy.

I was only 3 and half years of age at that time and have little if any recollection of the trip. In the summer of 1999, I did have the opportunity of visiting the famous Pier No. 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Port which our ship docked.

I immediately sensed an emotional sensation, as a young child would have experienced in the commotion going through the process as an immigrant in a new land. The plaque of " Michele and Concetta De Buono and Family" hangs on the Sobey's Wall of Honour with pride.You see my Mother and Father would have been travelling with a total of seven children on this voyage to Canada. Filomena , Pasquale, Franco, Anna, Julianna, Mario (me), and Silvanna.

My Mother Concetta was pregnant at the time with Joseph and would go on to have two other Children, Robert and Elena. I could not even imagine the uncertainty they would have gone through. Having to travel with a family and not understanding the language or culture. With the help of sponsors, we settled in the Dundas and Lisgar area of Toronto and soon after my Father had saved enough to purchase a home on St. Annes Rd. in Toronto's West end. I can viividly recall the grass lawn covered with a topping of white snow and thinking we were in the suburbs.

Concetta DeBuono passed away in 2002 and her legacy as an unselfish Mother, Grand and Great-Grand Mother lives on. Time has passed by so quickly and my wife and I have are blessed with two Daughters, Erica attending the University of Toronto, Laura at Sir Wilfred Laurier and Matthew our youngest at St. Thomas Acquinas in Brampton.

My siblings and myself all live within the GTA from Richmond Hill to the West and Brampton to the East. We all own our own homes and have family of our owns, each with three children and some with grand-children and contribute to the social fabric which makes Canada the Best Country to live in.

Mario Marcello De Buono
For Michele, Concetta De Buono and Family