Gasperini

Information courtesy of Margaret McCarthy.

My grandparents came to Stambaugh in 1912 where my grandfather, Silvio Guido Gasperini, operated a general merchandise store for 16 years.  He sold to Fred Olin in 1928.  He served as village trustee and several terms on the school board.  In his retirement he built beautiful canoes by hand in his shop across from his home.  The first photo is a bit blurry, but it is of Silvio and his wife, Aurelia, and two sons:  Albert (my father) and Silvio Emil, the younger.

 
Click on any picture to enlarge.

Albert married my mother, Margaret McKenna -- I am their only child.  They divorced and he married Charlotte Butter Brand and they had two living children, Cherie and Joseph who grew up in Stambaugh.  Silvio graduated from West Point,married Dorothea Cristan of Iron Mountain.  He was posted in the Philippines where he survived the Bataan Death March and Japanese Prison Camp.  When he returned to the U.S., they had six children.  He served in the Army until his retirement, living all around the U.S. and a tour in Germany.

The second photo is of the two sons: Albert on the left and Silvio on the right.

Here is an ad from the Gasperini store.
 

Also a photo of the Gasperini home at 306 Madison Ave., Stambaugh in more recent years.  They owned their store building with apartments above, the house next door to the store,a house on Washington Ave., a cottage of Chicagoan Lake and a hunting camp.  They lived on the rents from these properties for the remainder of their lives.

Below is a photo of Silvio E. Gasperini in his army uniform also one of him from his yearbook at West Point.

The two following photos are of Albert's engagement to Margaret McKenna in 1936.  The second is of Silvio's marriage to Dorothea Cristan in June 1940.  Left to  right are Albert Gasperini, Gene Cristan (of Caspian), Silvio, Dorothea, _______, Margaret McKenna Gasperini.