Vincenzo Corpora
Read an article about Vincenzo, his immigration story, and belief in the power of education here.
Vincenzo’s parents (Antonio and Santa) immigrated to Easton, Pennsylvania in 1906. They had their first child, a son (Placido) in 1906 and daughter (Caterina) in 1909. In 1912 they decided to return to Sicily (a long trip by ship). Their third child, Vincenzo was born in Castel di Lucio, Sicily in 1913. Having limited opportunities in Sicily and being US citizens, Placido returned to the US in 1936 and Caterina returned in 1946. After much encouragement and sponsorship from his siblings, Vincenzo decided to immigrate his family (wife Santa, children Santa, Maria and Placido) to America.
1961 passport photo for wife Santa, daughters Santa and Maria, son Placido
Vincenzo in the Italian Army during World War 2
Vincenzo arrived in Easton, PA in 1960. He found work at a dye house and purchased a small house on the southside of town, a predominant Sicilian community. His wife and children arrived at New York’s JFK airport in August 1961.
Vincenzo and Santa
One of first things Vincenzo did at his new house was dig out all the grass and start his vegetable garden. In addition, he and several friends “rented” a nearby abandoned lot and developed it into a community garden.
The Onion harvest
Every piece of soil was planted with vegetables, flowers or fruit. For many years he worked the night shift at the dye house (11pm – 7am) spending his days in the garden. He planted everything organically and it grew beautifully, including vegetables of every kind, flowers (especially roses and zinnias) and fruit (grapes, pears, plums and especially figs). The family joke was that Vincenzo could put any stick into the soil and it would grow into something beautiful and productive.
St. Francis watches over Vincenzo’s garden
Vincenzo with his organically grown roses
Preparing fresh herbs in making sausage
Every Sicilian family had fig trees in their yard. Protecting them for the winter was a project that required time and manpower. But the effort was worth enjoying fresh figs each summer. The trees in Vincenzo’s yard were cuttings from the trees his parents had brought to America in 1906. In September of 1991, Vincenzo and his son Placido were featured on the cover on Organic Gardening Magazine uncovering one of their fig trees that had been buried over the winter.
On the cover of Organic Gardening Magazine
Vincenzo was a great gardener and passed that passion to his son who currently has nine fig trees growing in his Bethlehem, PA garden.
