PONDERING THE PAST
An Italian Pilgrimage

My second visit to Italy was in 2002, 40 years after my first visit...yes, things changed ...my cousin Rino said, “in 40 years Italy has caught up with the rest of the world”.
My journey this time took me to Lourdes.
My nephew attended the school “la Nostra Famiglia”in San Vito. They dispensed special permission for me to tag along. We met at the train station, and boarded a Cuccette..(a sleeper train)...our trip to Lourdes France would be a 15 hour train ride. The train was so long they had to leave at 2 different intervals. Our pilgrimage had over 1000 Italians.
One side note...I sat by a lady and showed her some photos my dad had taken on my first trip to Italy...in 1961...she looked through the photos and pointed to a lady she said was her aunt. (go figure)
Our group was assigned 3 ”little sister”

Well, it finally happened.

After 16 months of picnics, and outside activities, Saddleback Valley Lodge # 2566 has moved back home, (the Norman Murray Center). We just had the most enjoyable meeting with over 50 Members and friends coming back to enjoy a great Greek meal and lots of fun and conversation. We also had a very active game of Bingo with tons of white elephant gifts. It was wonderful to see and talk with so many of our members. Quite a few did not participate in the picnics due to health concerns, (understandable). We are currently meeting on Wednesday nights

Happy Summer everyone. It looks as though our Lodge has not published an article for quite some time. Boy was last year a mess. We did not hold any meetings or gatherings last year but continued to do somewhat regular newsletters to keep our members in touch and informed.

May 2021 was our first in-person meeting. We moved our meeting site to the Reno Elks Lodge #597. They have a beautiful, large kitchen and a huge room for our meetings. We held Festa there a couple times and it worked out fabulously. Many members and friends were anxious to return and we had our usual 50ish people in attendance. Hugh Ricci gave us a fun heritage game to play as our first program of 2021. We recognized milestone members this month. Bill Nelson and Sam Olson for 5 years; Barbara Wisniewski and Paul Romero for 15 years; Christine and Larry Handy for 25 years; and Pam and Hugh Ricci

On July 24, 2021, the Gold Country Lodge #2705 proudly celebrated its 25th anniversary. Members and guests enjoyed a wonderful dinner provided by “Off the Vine Catering”. Jim Silveira, Gold Country Lodge President presided over the program. Special guests included Barbara Wisniewski-State 1st Vice President, Lynn Lawrence Murphy-Past State President, Dan Marinelli-State Deputy, and Louie Lodi-3rd Vice President. We also celebrated our oldest lodge member Angelo Battaglia who just turned 99 and our youngest members, twins Darren & Carson Hower, 3 years old. 8 members received their 25 year pin & 1 member, Lisa

Agnes Pelous, who celebrated her 99th birthday in July, has been a member of the Roma Lodge in Tulare since 1964. As a member she has enjoyed celebrating the Italian culture with new friends and old friends whose family acquaintances go all the way back to the same village in Italy. Agnes has been active as the Roma Lodge vice president and mistress of ceremonies, as well as serving on the scholarship, ravioli dinner, and Farm Show committees. Roma Lodge members want to thank Agnes for her many years of membership and dedication to the lodge.

Roma Lodge members were saddened with the passing of member Florena (Dolly) Jean Kleinhans. Dolly, as she was affectionately known as, was a longtime member of the lodge and the Tulare community. For 23 years she participated at the California Antique Farm Equipment Show cooking on a woodstove and serving chicken and dumplings and homemade ice cream at Dolly’s Kitchen. Along with her husband, Cedric, they built a large barn on their property utilizing it for family gathering, holidays, weddings, and class reunions. Cedric and Dolly opened their farm to promote education to school children about the early 1900s. As a Licensed Vocational Nurse, she worked for Terrace Park Convalescent Hospital for 12 years and then Tulare District Hospital for 10 years. She will be missed