Good Morning…Welcome to our Dad’s Celebration of Life.

 Dad served in the United States armed forces during the Korean War in Germany in the Army, he told me he was a company clerk, I thought wow that’s important, my Dad ordered all the supplies that were needed to maintain their position. He served in the Army for two years and was honorably discharged.

 Dad met Mom at the Mount Carmel bazaar, Gramma Razzano took a liking to Dad right away, but Papa Razzano had his reservation, telling Mom, He looks sick, he’s too skinny…Mom didn’t think so…Dad was perfect!

 Mom had other men chasing her too, so to speak, but Gramma Razzano wouldn’t think of it…Gram chased them all away running after them with a broom…

 I often asked Dad, Dad did you ever have any other girlfriends?  Dad would reply, “only one, her name was “Georgia Bullets”…Mom would tell me yeah Georgia Bullets wouldn’t leave your father alone, until I told her to leave…him…alone!  I mean can you image, Suzanne Bullets-Esposito…

 Dad was a very hard working man, most of the time holding down three jobs, putting food on the table, and to pay for the Buster Browns we wore on our feet.

 I recall Dad polishing every one of our shoes, every night before school.  We looked like we had a brand new pair on every school day.

 Dad would tell us, if you go out, make sure you’re home by midnight…that was when Dad’s shift ended at Bear-Manning (Dad was then an electrician’s helper, and soon became a “Chief Electrician”).  Well wouldn’t ya know it that brother Patrick decided to test that midnight time and stayed out well past then. One morning while Pat was still out I heard him taping on our bedroom window, I got out of bed, opened the window, Pat climbed through, and climbed into bed…he and I shared the same room for years…well when Dad walked into our bedroom he started to hit me…I whimper, I wasn’t out Pat was…Dad said I hit you because you are the oldest…that never made sense to me but I made sure Patrick was home thereafter before Dad got home.

 Dad must have carried a Zenith TV remote in his pocket all the time, because when he’d walk in the door, the TV channel would change…later we found out it was Dad’s car keys…he would jingle them and the TV would change channels.  Frank would complain to Mom, Mom would yell at Dad, telling him Al, put the keys away.  Then they would both giggle.

 Mom would constantly be calling for Patrick to come into the house, dinner on the table, do his homework, something like that…That’s how he got nick-named.  Mrs. Redick (the lady across the street) said to my Mom one day Patrick sure is a hand full…he’s a real “Dick the Devil”…We still (not too often) refer to Dick the Devil as his handle…Love you Pat!

 Hey Sue, was it Pat’s idea to play in Dad’s car?  Remember the two of you in the front seat playing, the car rolled down the driveway in reverse and ended up in Art Plant’s yard…Dad ran down the driveway to the car, you and Pat had the car doors locked and wouldn’t open them, even though Dad promised he wouldn’t hit you!

 Oh, Sue, by the way, how do you spell Slaz-nick?  See my sister Suzanne had a hard time pronouncing closet and every chance Dad got, he would ask her, “Sue where does daddy keep his gun”?  Sue’s reply was, “In the Slaz-nick”.  Love ya Suzanne!

 Our sister Antionette, as Dad would tell her, not Ann, was named after Dad’s mom…Antionette, was born premature, when the boy’s and girls of our not yet complete family looked at her, we asked Mom, why does she look like a baby monkey…hence my saying, Hey monkey face…not to my sister though…Love ya Antionette!    

 I know as a family there were seven of us including Mom and Dad…and I’d often recall to them both, you made me first, then soon after Suzanne, then soon Patrick, right after came Antionette, why didn’t Frank follow close…Their reply was oh, your brother Frank was a mistake, sometimes being mentioned as the adopted brother, but we knew better…Love ya Frank!

      I looked up the name “Esposito” in “Who’s who” and the respond came back to me…refer to being chased around a kitchen table with a wooden spoon.

      Dad wasn’t the disciplinarian, although he did motion at times to take off his strap…Mom was always reminding us, “Wait till your father gets home, I’m going to tell him everything you five did today”.  My brother Pat was the imaginative one when one afternoon Mom was again chasing us around the table, Pat decided to pull a chair out from under the table so Mom would slow down…after that I think Mom stopped chasing us, or we started running out the back door.

 Dad teased each of us in our own way…For me it was not being left handed, when I asked Dad why wasn’t I born left handed, he’d reply, cause you weren’t born in South Troy, South Troy, South Paw, lefthanded.   But Patrick wasn’t born in South Troy, why did he turn out left handed, dad then replied, well I had to have one of you be my lefthanded legacy…Dad laughed.

 None of us as kids were bad kids, we played outside in our Sunday dress cloths, promising not to get dirty, well we all know how that turned out…we were kids!

 Most of the time we were inseparable, riding our bikes, playing baseball on the street in front of the house, does anyone remember who broke the house window with that baseball?  As I remember it was the sixth child Mom and Dad had, you know we all have that member in our family, I believe his name was, “I don’t know”.  Dad would say to Mom we must have six kids because, “I don’t know” is always in trouble.

 In conclusion to this part of my family’s story, Dad enjoyed bowling, hunting, NY Yankees’, pitching horseshoes, playing hearts, baking and cooking.

 On behalf of my Mom, and brothers and sisters, I would like to thank everyone for your love and support in our time of sorrow.