The Exodus East

World War II

During World War II, Liborio saw a number of his grandchildren, (including all of his son Peter’s boys) and one of his own sons fighting for his new country.  Ignatius, the eldest child from his third marriage, graduated the US Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1931 and would rise to the rank of Captain.   He served as a lieutenant aboard the USS Portland, a naval cruiser in the Pacific, from 1941 to 1943, and saw action in every major Pacific battle during the first year of the War.  He received several citations for heroism.  Later, after the War, he had the distinction of having a park named in his honor in Bayonne, NJ within the confines of a naval base which he commanded from 1954 to 1957.  Ignatius marred Helen Blauvelt in 1932 and moved to northern California after retiring from the Navy.

Capt Tripi must have been proud to know his nephews were fighting along side him during the War.   Sal (my dad) enlisted in the Navy and became a radioman on an ocean tug – also in the Pacific.  His brother Ignatius was in the infantry and did some photography while stationed in Italy.  Larry became an aerial photographer in the Army in New Guinea.   Phil was also an Army man and worked as a cook.  One of Sal’s war memories, (besides his surviving a Japanese torpedo and a typhoon), was his rendevous with his uncle in the South Pacific, while Capt Tripi was commanding a supply ship around 1945.

The Exodus East

Following World War II, Italians began moving to suburbia in droves. It would be an urban wagontrain of massive proportions taking former immigrants and their children from Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Manhattan to Staten Island, New Jersey, Connecticut and Long Island. 

Liborio and Maria moved to Elmont, Long Island around 1950 as the exodus of Italians from the city to the suburbs reached full tilt.    Elmont, ironically, like the Lower East Side, was a mix of Italian and Jewish immigrants.  It was the first village on Long Island as you traveled east from Queens, and became a popular destination point for thousands of second generation  families to buy their first home.  Tony and Phillip also lived in the town, a few blocks from their father. 

The north end of the village became a suburban version of Little Italy.  Fig trees, tomato gardens, and statues of patron saints were common along the front and back yards of local houses.  It would become my neighborhood when my dad bought his first home in 1959.

Liborio’s youngest daughter Theresa, married Robert Cochrane in June, 1951 in Trinity Church in lower Manhattan.  In November of that year, Robert was ordained an Episcopal priest.  They had two children, Michael and Stephen.  Robert was later consecrated an Episcopal bishop in 1976, and shortly thereafter moved his family west to make their home in Seattle, Washington.

Liborio continued to enjoy his gardening, his immense family and his home in Elmont until he passed away at 84 in 1954.  After coming to a new country in 1895 and  raising 8 children and 7 stepchildren, marrying four wives, living through two world wars and a Great Depression, Liborio made his mark.

The last, but in no uncertain terms not the least of his children to wed was Antoinette (Dolly) who married William Horak in 1973.  While she was not a “blood relative”, she was as much a part of our family and our lives as anyone could be.  She was the epitomy of style and grace, independence and warmth – a beautiful woman, inside and out.  It was her sad passing in October, 2002 that inspired this rewrite or our family saga.