| Daddy's Memorial Service |
| By Sam Febbraio As many of you know, Eddie and I were very close. For me to elaborate on a tribute to him, I would have to cram 70 years of memories into approximately 5 minutes. That would be impossible, but I will do my best. The D'Amico family, at any point in time, have always been close to me. Eddie and I were born within 60 feet of each other and from our early days as kids, we established a very close bond. From 1932, when we walked to saugatuck school together, to the recent 1997 football games of Staples High School, we always seemed to be looking after one another. Eddie was a much better man than I could ever hope to be. He was an exceptional example of what God himself has told us...we all should be. Mr. & Mrs. D'Amico were honorable people in every respect. Within our small community of Saugatuck, they were respected by all their neighbors as caring hard working individuals. Their family was large and they shall always be rememberd as having raised their family within the high concept of good americanism. Now what can I tell you about this gallant, compassionate person we all loved so much. I shall attempt to quickly tell you about certain things that have stuck in my memory about our childhood together and then beyond. So this does not get confusing, allow me to place each event in sequential order by the year that I can remember them happening. 1934 - I can still see Eddie jumping off the tailgate of Chris McCann's ice truck tumbling head over heels. Those were the things we kids did for fun. It was not for the ice, but rather the daring 'zorro' type of adventure in getting it that counted. 1935 - We burned my grandfather's barn down because we decided to smoke corn silk wrapped in napkin paper. Eddie noticed that the straw was burning. As the fire whistle blew and fireman 'King Serena' came with the siren wailing, Eddie and I took off for the rear lot to hide. My cousin searched for us and said that our fathers would not punish us...Boy, what a mistake that was and what a shellacking... 1935 - We also pushed my grandfathers outhouse off the ledge in back of his house. After the surrender, and after the usual shellacking, we couldn't understand the punishment until we were told that the reason George Washington was not punished for chopping down the cherry tree, was beacuse his father wasn't sitting in the tree when he cut it down. 1935 - We used to make slingshots and form wire stapels so that we could bust the balloons being sold at the booths during the "Saint Anthony Feast", Those poor guys never knew what was happening to their baloons. 1942 - Eddie and I began shoveling snow for the town of Westport during winter storms when school was out for the day. They paid us 25 cents an hour and we could eat it up a the diner on Taylor Place before we were paid. 1943 - We worked for the town every day during the summer vacation oiling roads. Our pay was 35 cents an hour. Eddie and I were assigned to a truck driven by "Shiny Migliarese". our job was to spread sand over the hot tar. Everybody had a nickname in those days. My family nickname was 'Fat'. Eddie's was 'Porkie'. Shiny would yell "come on fat, move that shovel'. And then in a way that only Shiny could do, he would yell 'Porkie e e e e...more on the left. 1944 - We joined the navy. At boot camp, someone found a soccer ball and 75 guys were running and kicking. i can still see Eddie weaving in and out trying to kick the ball with that right leg that later was taken away from him. he never had a chance to show anyone his sports prowess, but we remember his great gymnastic ability while a member of the leaders club at the YMCA in 1943. He was a great competitor. 1944 - The day we broke boots at Sampson NY, the train kept stopping because men were working on the tracks. Eddie found out that they were italian prisoners of war. He started a good dialogue with them in italian and the guys on the train would yell 'hey ed, what did they say'. everyone was impressed with his italian. 1944 - In the service, a general rule was never to volunteer. When the entire company was asked who had a driver's license, Eddie and Gene Pasacreta waved emphatically and were picked. We later saw them both working on the garbage truck picking up around the unit. We always laughed about that and Eddie as such a good sport about it. I must tell you something that only Eddie and I knew about - the day is June 10th, 1945. |
| EULOGIES continued |