My Family History.

I'm back today on this blog, I thought that I'd pick up where I left off with my dad's side, and move to  my mom's side at least for this week, and even this month, then heading into September and autumn.  Firstly, her family is mainly Italian, but her mom was Ukrainian and sadly, I don't know the year that   my mom's parents immigrated to Canada, however, my mother's name was Florence, and she was  named after the famous Italian city. She was born in 1943 and passed away back in 2016 at age 73.  She had three siblings; a brother and two sisters, only her one sister out in Kelowna, British Columbia  is still alive; Eleanor Gal, her other siblings have also passed away; Dorothy Peristy and Paul Santucci.  Her late parents were Joseph and Mary Santucci. My mom's family lived in the "East End" of my  hometown; Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada (January 1st, 1970-present). Florence and her siblings were  all born in Fort William, Ontario back in ...

Continued from yesterday; Waino Mullo learned in those early years in Port Arthur, Ontario as a newly licensed mechanic that cars in accidents were to be totally scrapped, so what he decided to do was ask for those particular vehicles so he could restore them himself. He was questioned consistently for asking such a request, but he was granted the damaged cars in question. He worked at home on those cars instead of overtime at one of the local garages, and by that autumn he had still spent 500 Canadian dollars to complete the repairs. One of those same cars that he repaired all on his own costed 10 times more at least brand new, however he decided to keep one of those cars for himself and his family, and owned and drove it for almost 20 years. Mullo would tell you in his later years that Mullos were truly global citizens. His three children had relatives in many countries as it turned out. Several languages are/were spoken at family get-togethers, but it was more difficult for the chil...

Waino and his family initially arrived in Halifax, Nova Scotia, way back in 1951, and unboarded the ship that they rode upon across the Atlantic Ocean to land in Canada, their new home. Before too long, they headed for Winnipeg, Manitoba and Waino started working in a garage there. It was July and summertime of course in North America, and because the garage had a metal roof, it felt like a hot sauna in there while Waino perfected his job/career in auto mechanics. Waino drank a lot of water and ate salt tablets to beat the heat at work. Because Waino and his family didn't know a word of English, he and they seemed to do everything wrong, at first. He thought that his work would progress better if he knew the language. Mr. Mullo decided to then move himself and his family to Port Arthur, Ontario, where there remains to this day the largest population of Finns outside of Finland, this town amalgamated with Fort William and became Thunder Bay, Ontario on January 1st, 1970 after a very...

Teachers had also been sent to the war zones in Inkeri, so Waino Mullo was not able to attend school on a regular basis; however, he had earned two certificates for auto mechanics which allowed him to move forward. One day Waino happened to be standing on a shipyard dock in Sweden, and the shipyard was in fact looking for workers at that time. Since the yard cranes happened to have car motors installed in them, Waino was able to help repair them, especially the larger ones. He was not able to speak Swedish, but an acquaintance in Estonia was able to converse to the Swedish mechanics that Waino in fact could help them more if they really needed it, which as it turned out, they did. All that he really had to do to get the cranes operational again was to simply use a meter long electric cord which he cut himself. The crane(s) began working again to everyones' amazement and Waino was more or less hired on the spot. Waino worked on that same crane that he helped repair for seven years a...

The Mullo's Escape From War The patriarch, Waino Mullo experienced life through the two World Wars, born in 1911, thus  growing up and living in Europe for four decades, had finally had enough and emigrated his family to Canada in 1951. He lived in three European countries during those early years; Ingermanland (now Russia), Finland and Sweden, through the good but much bad given the political strife of global conflicts. Waino never wished to talk about war and the insanity surrounding it. He, his family and countless villagers had gotten too used to running from the sounds of tanks and gunfire. The Mullo family lived in a small log home in Inkari, 40 kilometres from Pietari (present day Leningrad). There was daily farming and staying at home at night. Waino became interested in cars and motors before there were even roads and vehicles, but to still make a living at that time, he decided to become a chauffeur and truck driver. Once workers became needed in Finland, he moved there f...