John Garavaglia, Page Two

This is the edited text of my interview with Rose Marie Coburn, daughter of the late John Garavaglia. I am JM, and she is RMC.

RMC: No. My mother was still alive when we saw the photo for the first time. She didn’t remember anything about it. My aunt’s brother saw the book and recognized us, so he called her, and she called me right away. I was so excited. She sent me a copy of the book, and then I went to the bookstore and bought one for my kids. My five grandchildren get a kick out of it. I wish the author had printed our names under the photo, but I guess the photographer didn’t identify us.

RMC: At the house in Bush where I was born. It was torn down about 15 years ago.

RMC: He was born July 2, 1909, so I guess he was about 29 then. My dad became a coal miner in Bush when he was 19. That’s where he was born. He married my mother Mary in 1934, and I was born a year later.

JM: What were his parents’ names?

RMC: Frank and Rosa. Her maiden name was Nigro. She was born in Italy. She couldn’t talk very good English. She was strictly Italian.

JM: How many children did your parents have?

RMC: I have one brother, Richard, who was born 10 years later. He’s still living.

JM: You told me that your folks moved to Highwood, Illinois. When was that?

RMC: I was about five or six then. We lived in Highwood till I was 15, and then we moved to Highland Park, the next town over.

JM: Why did they leave Bush and go to Highwood?

RMC: Dad wanted to get out of the coal mine. They had relatives up here. So he got a job as a pipe fitter at Fansteel, Inc, in North Chicago. He worked there until he retired at the age of 62.

JM: Did he like the job?

RMC: Yes. My dad was very quiet, and whatever he did he liked. He was happy. A lot of his family was here. He died June 3, 1985, at the age of 75. He had heart trouble and black lung. My mother died in 1990.

JM: Did his father work in the mine, too?

RMC: Yes.

JM: Did your mother work outside of the home?

RMC: No. She stayed home.

JM: Did you father finish high school?

RMC: No. He left Hurst-Bush High School after the tenth grade. But when he was there, he was captain of the basketball team, although he was only about 5’ 5’’.

JM: Did you finish high school?

RMC: Yes, but I didn’t go to college. I got married when I was 19. My husband Ken is standing here by the phone right now. This April, we will be married 54 years. We had two daughters and twin sons. One of the sons died when he was six years old.

JM: Did you work outside the home?

RMC: No. My husband had a service station business. So I helped him with the books.

JM: Is there anything else you want to tell me about your father?

RMC: He was such a fun-loving guy. He didn’t travel. My husband is from Wyoming, and Dad would not get on an airplane when we wanted to take him on a trip out there. He never left Illinois except to go the Wisconsin. That’s as far as he went. He drove to southern Illinois to see his brother, Jesse, and that’s about it. Jesse was well-known there. He had the only grocery store in town, a Kroger’s.

JM: Do you remember the hat your father was wearing in the photo?

RMC: No. And I don’t have any pictures of him dressed as a coal miner. When I was 10 years old, I went back to southern Illinois for the summer and stayed with my grandparents. That’s when my mother was pregnant with my brother. I saw my grandfather dressed as a coal miner, and I loved to put on his coal miner hat. I wanted to go in the coal mine, but my grandma said no. She told me that it was bad luck to do that.