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National Trail Program
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OVERLANDER DAYS
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z | Page 5 Volume 13 Number 29 | 50¢
July 16, 2014
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Heritage and heart on the North Shore Not many of us know that the North Shore of Kamloops was once a little village, but there are a few around who do remember. Tony Nigro is one of these people. A gruff voice with an accent and kind blue eyes describe this longterm tenant of Tranquille Road. Tony, who is now well into his 70’s has been handling the blacksmith and welding needs of the community for many decades. Tony’s Welding Shop has been in Kamloops since 1955, but if you know Tony, the story began much earlier than that. In 1951 he left Italy to move to Vancouver with his mother to be reunited with his father. Tony, until this point, had never even met his father. Tony’s father had to leave the country to
find work. “He left before I was born. Me and my momma met my father in Vancouver,” comments Tony. He and his momma took a boat from Naples, Italy to New York and from New York they took a train to Toronto. From Toronto, they took another train get to their final destination: Vancouver. To give you an idea of this journey, the distance from Naples to New York is 7,072 kilometers, which on a modern day flight is approximately nine hours. “We went by boat. Only millionaires could afford a plane ticket. We had no money,” adds Tony. It is the five day and four nights train trip from New York to Toronto that Tony remembers well. “There was a couple on the train on their honeymoon. They felt bad for us because we hadn’t had food in a few days. They took pity on us and opened their suitcase and inside with a huge carton of chocolate,” Tony says. “I said ‘What’s that?’ I had never seen something of such value. We never had this in Italy. Food was scarce because it was just after the war.” “I explained to them that I had no money to pay for it,” adds Tony. “My momma even asked me if we had to pay for it. But we didn’t, they just told us, ‘No, you eat it’. The couple tried to explain to us in English I remember. This went on - continued on page 2
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