Since our first contact with you about the reunion for Pietro Bertucci and his wife Pina from Italy, and Maria Compagno (from Louisiana), we’ve had an exciting development. In order to be able to meet more of us, Pietro proposed a second meeting in Northern California.
First meeting will be held on Saturday, Feburary 12 at the home of Marlene Robershaw in the hills of Escondido, about 30 miles north of San Diego. The second meeting will be on Saturday, Feb. 19 at the home of Rosa (Tranchina) Steven, in Mt. View (between Palo Alto and San Jose) and co-hosted by another Usticesi, Karen West, also of Mt. View and a cousin to Marlene Robershaw.
Between meetings, Pietro, Pina and Maria will relax for a few days in Las Vegas, and after the Mt. View meeting, they plan to spend a few days in San Francisco.
Marlene and her family, along with Maria Compagno already have the food planned for the Escondido meeting. For the northern California meeting, we’ve decided to do a “pot luck.” Rosa will provide lasagna for the entire group, and her daughter will provide a seafood combination. They would like us to bring whatever we can (we realize that some of you who may be flying into San Jose … the closest airport to Mt. View) will be unable to bring food. But for those of us who live near enough to drive, feel free to bring a dessert, salad, hors d’oeuvre, beverage or whatever. If it has an Italian flair so much the better, but Italian is not required.
Most of you are aware that Pietro edits his blog, “Usticasape” at www.usticasape.it. A great way for us to keep up with all the news from Ustica, with lots of photos, old and new. And, each of us is invited to contribute items of interest at any time.
We hope that some of you who may have felt that San Diego was too far to travel, may now reconsider a shorter journey to Mt. View. Our “Western Usticesi” family is growing, and Pietro, Pina and Maria look forward to seeing and meeting with each and every one of us. Come on out! It will be a fun day!
In a few days, we’ll ask for an update on who will attend, so that we can complete our planning. We’ll give location details at that time.
Fred Lauricella
