Dear Commons Community,

On this Father’s Day, I remember my dad, Amadeo, who died in 1973 at the age of 64.    He was born and raised in Brooklyn and met my mother, Philomena, in the early 1930s.  For most of his life, he worked very hard in the warehouses on 12^th Avenue in Manhattan.  When he came home from work, he was totally exhausted, had dinner and would fall asleep on the couch for the rest of the evening.  He never owned a car and never had a vacation other than visiting relatives on Long island.  Our big treat for the year was a day trip to Coney Island.    We lived with aunts, uncles, and cousins in my grandmother’s house in the South Bronx on 152^nd Street and Morris Avenue.   There was never a lack of love or attention for me and my two brothers as we were growing up.  One thing my father encouraged which was most important for the three of us was that school was important and we had to go to college.  We did.

Thank you, Dad!

Anthony