Our First Duty Station

As I said earlier, Mike and I were married on May 21, 1972. We were married in Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Glen Burnie, Maryland. In picking our date, we looked at the Elks Lodge schedule to find a date the lodge was open to have our reception, and the only day open in May was the 21st, which was a Sunday. Now, in the Catholic Church, getting married on a Sunday at that time was totally unheard of. When we talked to the priest he asked why we picked that day, adn we told him because the Lodge was open. Since we did not want a Mass, just a ceremony, Fr. Kelly agreed, but admonished us that the NEXT time we should choose a date the church was open before we chose our reception site.

We were married on Sunday and the following Friday Mike had to report to Portsmouth, Virginia. We did not have a honeymoon, but a friend loaned us her apartment for a few days before we left for Virginia. After nine months in Virginia, Mike received orders to the Branch Dispensary, Naval Air Facility, Sigonella, Sicily, and in April 1973 we arrived in Catania, Sicily.

Sicily is an island, part of Italy, at the tip of the "boot" of Italy. It covers the largest surface area of all regions of Italy, and is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Cicero, considered one of Rome's greatest orators, described the city of Syracusa on the island of Sicily and "the greatest and most beautiful city of all Ancient Greece." Sicily is today a region of Italy, but was once its own country known as the Kingdom of Sicily and was ruled from Palermo. Sicily has a long history, and has usually been controlled by greater powers, including those of the Roman, Vandal, Byzantine, Islamic, Hohenstaufen, Catalan, Spanish and Greek cultures. Sicily gets its name from one of its original tribes, the Seculi, or Sicels, who supposedly arrived from the Iberian Peninsula. Historical evidence in the form of cave drawings by this tribe have been discovered dating from the end of the Pleistacene Epoch, around 8,000 BC. Through the centuries the other cultures have fought for and gained power over this island.

The economy is based mainly on agriculture, especially lemon and orange orchards, vineyards and olives. The fertile volcanic soil allows for excellent growing conditions. When we were in Sicily there were very few department type stores. You went to a different store for everything you bought. There were bread stores, vegetable stores, meat stores, cheese stores, etc. While breads, vegetables and cheeses were wonderful when bought on the economy, buying meats was another story. Many of the meat stores had no refrigeration, and meats sat on the counters. Even in individual homes freezers and refrigerators had limited space, and the Sicilians bought their food daily. SOme things were only available at certain times--you could only get pork sausage in the fall when it was time to kill hogs. Neighbors of ours had huge pigs in their back yards, and it was customary to see herders taking their goats and sheep through the town in the morning to the pastures outside of town to graze.

Sicilians are a very proud people. They are proud of their island, their identity and their culture, and are much more likely to describe themselves as Sicilians rather than Italians. The associate most often with the Greeks, whose culture is widely seen throughout the island, and genetically the Sicilians are most close to the Greeks.

Sicily has been nicknamed "God's Kitchen" because of the variety of cuisines and wines available there. Tastes are rich but affordable to the general population and implement fresh fruits, vegetables and seafood. They are also famous for the rich, sweet dishes there including ice cream and pastries, including Cannoli. Pasta, rice and cheese are also widely used in the Sicilian diet. When we first went to Sicily we had to stay in a hotel while we looked for an apartment and waited for our household goods. We stayed in the Total Motel, which had its own restaurant. When you went for supper it was usually a two to three hour affair. Meals were not served as they are in the United States. First you got antipasta--something like salami, cheese and olives. Next you ordered a pasta dish, and then your main entree. If you wanted vegetables they were separate, and the Sicilians thoguth it was funny that the Americans ordered Coke with their meals. Don;t forget--no refrigeration, so no ice, so your Coke was warm. Veal was a prominent meat, and beef was seldom served as it was extremely expensive in Sicily. Desserts were fabulous--one that we used to love was a huge brandy sniffer with a large amount of ice cream and wonderful fresh fruit. It was to die for. We also used to like Veal Valdostana--a fired veal cutlet with ham and cheese on it. Pasta was out of this world, and pizzas were individual. When you went to the Sicilian "Pizza Parlor" each person was served their own pizza, about the size of a large dinner plate, and all the pizzas were baked on the floor of a wood burning oven.

Arts were a large part of Sicily's heritage. Many poets, writers, philosophers, architects and painters were from Sicily. Archimedes, the greatest mathimatician, was from Syracusa. Terra Cotta ceramics were available everywhere. Sicilian carts--what we would call donkey carts--brightly painted with Italian scenes were everywhere. Puppet theaters and wooden marionettes were seen in the streets, especially when it was festival time. If you have ever seen the movie "The Godfather" in one scene they are having a festival and they have a puppet theater there. Festivals were frequent events. Each small town and city had a patron saint, and on the saints feast day there would be a festival with food booths in the streets and fireworks all day long and late into the night. Palermo has the largest opera hose in Italy, and the third largest in Europe.

The weather is Sicily varied according to where you were. We lived in the city of Belpasso for the first two years were were there. Belpasso was about a third of the way up Mt. Etna. In the summer the temperatures would reach 120 degrees, but you could take a 30 minute ride farther up "the hill" and need a sweater. In the winter, if it was raining in Belpasso that same 30 minute ride would put you in snow. In the summer you would also experience sirocco--an oppressive, hot dusty wind that originated in the Sahara Desert. It brought red dust from the Sahara, and the winds could reach hurricane strength. In August most Italians take vacation--I think it is called Ferrogosto. For about two weeks everything stops. One year our car broke down at this time. We left it on the side of the road and did contact a garage. We were told they were on vacation, but they would fix it when they came back. The next day our car was gone and we were sure it had been stolen. We were wrong. Even though they would not fix it for about two weeks, they took the car to the garage and locked it in so it wouldn't be stolen.

Sicilians days were much different than ours also. Even the school children would start their day very early, but then about one o'clock in the afternoon everything would close for about three hours. ABout four o'clock stores would reopen for a few hours, and children would go back to school for an hours or sor. Children even went to school for a half day on Saturday, and all of the children wore uniforms.

For the first two years we lived "on the economy" in an apartment in Belpasso. When you rented an apartment, you got exactly that--no appliances, no light fixtures, no medicine cabinet, no closets, just fours walls, a floor and a ceiling. Our apartment had a huge living/dining room, two bedrooms, a large kitchen and a bathroom. The floors were marble. We had a balcony that went entirely around the apartment, and on the back balcony was another "room" were you put your washer. Dryers were unheard of and you strung clotheslines along the balcony. We also had an entry way that was the size of a small room ans closed your door off from the rest of the house. For all this we paind less than $100.00 a month. Our landlord was Senor Cattanatzo. We lived in our apartment about a month with no electricity. It was a new apartment, and nothing is done in a hurry, including turning on the electricity. Most people did not have telephones, and when you contracted for one it took months to get it. If you were a physician you could get a phone in a few days, but because you were a professional and considered to be rich you paid several times the usual price for it.

History was everywhere in Sicily, and not just a couple hundred years, but centuries of history. Most of the historical sites were free to visit and nearly every weekend a group of people from the dispensary went somewhere. Syracusa, Palermo, Agrigento, Messina, Caltigerone, Catania were only a few of the names. Greek and Roman ruins, churches, catacombs, and much more. In an hour you could fly to Rome and see awesome sights--the Vatican and its museums, the Coleseum, the Forum and Trevi Fountain--all places that were centuries old and extremely humbling. Some day I'm going back. As I've gone through the albums I scanned so far I realize I've forgotten so much, but it all came back so quickly. Of all the duty stations we had, Sicily was the best. I don't think we understood at the time how lucky we were, or appreciated the things we saw.

I'm going to end this here, and am going to post some pictures in a new post. I hope you enjoy my memories. As I think of other stories I will relate them. The more pictures I see the more I remember. Stay tuned!