My mother was one of six children  born to Italian immigrents.  My grandparents had arrived separately at Ellis Island. I know that my grandmother, Teresina, (Theresa) Santora was 19 years old when she arrived and was sponsered by her sister.  I do not know when my grandfather Berniero, (Bernard) Bufano came to America or how they met.  They had settled in the Bronx, New York. They lived near the Grand Concourse, I remember because the road was brick and underneath the train tracks. My grandfather was a barber.  He was also abusive to my grandmother, but of course “it wasn’t talked about.”  I have very few memories of my grandfather. I remember their apartment and that when we visited I would sit on his lap and he would give me silver coins.  My grandmother didn’t speak English and was very hard to understand.  Being a mother and housewife was all she knew.  She seemed very sweet and was also nice.  I remember her making her own pasta, laying it out and her sauce.  Unfortunately none of her daughters carried on that tradition. 

Their oldest child was my Aunt Mary, who I understood ran away as soon as she was able to.  When I was growing up she lived in an apartment above my grandparents with her roomate we called Aunt Sis and their little poodle, Gigi. Much later, I was well into my late twenties, I and all my cousins, knew that she was gay.  I thought it odd that Aunt Sis dressed like a man, with her hair short and slicked back with rolled up sleeves where she put her cigarettes.  I was raised extremely nieve, as you will see throughout this biography.  Later as we confronted my mother, she always denied it.  Again, it was never talked about.  My Aunt Angie, acknowledged it by saying that “Sis talked her into it.”  I remember my Aunt Mary as being very nice and fun.  They later moved to Florida and I had visited her there when Jen was little.  She was also very generous, leaving all her nieces and nephews money when she died, (a significant amount).

The next was my Uncle Mike.  After my grandfather died, he lived with my grandmother until her death.  He felt he had to take care of her.  I was told that when he got older and saw my grandfather hit my grandmother, he hit my grandfather and told him to never touch her again.  He did marry later in life. They said he had some mental illness, he was prone to lashng out verbally.  My cousin Lauren got it once, but never me or any other cousin for that matter.  I have good memories of him.

Then came my Uncle Paul.  I didn’t have a lot of memories of him because he married my Aunt Lee and they lived in Queens, NY and were much closer with her family.  They had two kids, Paul Jr. and Susan.  We saw them at weddings and some holdidays.  Paul Jr. drove a cab and was an actor.  We saw him in an off broadway play called “The Mikado”, he had the lead.  He never made it as an actor but he was very handsome and had a deep baritone voice.  My cousin Susan was about four years older than me and Lauren and is very pretty and stylish, we looked up to her.  I have gotten closer to her since we’re older but I only see her once a year if she comes to “cousins night.”

Fourth child, my beloved, Aunt Angie, (Angelina).  She is my godmother and I am so grateful that she was.  She was married to my Uncle Jimmy, (Fagan) and they had two children, Carol and Jimmy.  My uncle Jimmy was a lot of fun. He was Irish with a great sense of humor and Lauren and I adored him.  He was a heavy smoker, (non-filter PallMall’s). He was also an alcoholic which of course was hidden from us.  He was a nemesis to Lauren’s father, my Uncle Grant, who was so strict, always right and was embarrassed by him, which made us like him even more.  He did put my aunt through hell, but she never left him.  Carol and Jimmy have stories that are quite sad and embarassing for them while growing up.  I know my aunt had to put a lock on the phone beccause he would call up the president.  He did call our house drunk and I remember my parents talking about it, but never saying he was drunk.  My aunt and uncle really did love each other and my aunt also had a great sense of humor.  In her class she was named, “the biggest flirt.”  My mother used to say that I was Aunt Angie’s child and Carol was really hers, that we got mixed up.  Me because I loved to shop just like my aunt, loved jewelry, went for the bad boys and also was a big flirt! Carol on the other hand didn’t care about shopping or jewelry,  very sensible and married an educated reliable man.  I never minded being told I was like my aunt.  We were always very close.  She lived the longest of all the children, and I think it was because of her sense of humor.  Aunt Angie had Carol, three granddaughers, Annie, Katie and Eileen.  She also had three great granddaughters.  Before she died,  she went  through her jewelry, and unbelievably she gave me a big Amythyst ring set in a beautiful 14 carat gold setting.  Needless to say, she was my favorite aunt!

My mother, Florence was the fifth child.  She will have her own Chapter.

The youngest of the six children was my Aunt Gloria.  She married Grant Davis and they moved to California where they had a daughter who passed away, (rarely talked about).  Their only daughter, is my cousin Lauren who was born the same year as me, 1958, (Lauren will have her own Chapter too). They moved back to the east coast and settled in Connecticut.  They lived on Lake Bolton in a house my Uncle built with the help of my brother who was about 16 at the time. My Uncle Grant was very strict and  stern and had no sense of humor.  My Aunt Gloria was the sweetest human being who was constantly bossed around by him. Besides my parents, they were the only siblings who lived in a house.  Not true, my Uncle Paul had a home in Queens, NY.  Anyway we had family get togethers on the lake which was a lot of fun, swimming and boating,