Carla Pennesi, interviewed by Hannah Leanne Lobbezoo

Carla Pennesi, interviewed by Hannah Leanne Lobbezoo

Abstract:

Carla Pennesi came to Canada on February 15, 1966 to follow her husband Gianni Pennesi who had moved shortly before her. They lived in Beachville Ontario in their first two years in Canada, but later moved to Ingersoll. Here Carla and Gianni built a house for themselves, Gianni and his brother working on it little by little it after work each day until it was finished. Carla began learning English through her first job in Canada working for Essex Wire as well as taking night classes after work. She stopped working when she had her two daughters but continued to volunteer in the schools and church where she cultivated both Italian and Canadian communities. Carla also tells us about her experience first arriving in Canada, and the family that helped her adjust. Frank Franchetto, an old neighbour of Carla, and his daughter Arianna Franchetto are present throughout this interview as Carla requested them to be.

Interview transcript with Carla Pennesi, July, 2019, interviewed by Hannah Lobbezoo

Hannah Lobbezoo: [00:03] So Carla, I’m first going to ask you what, what brought you to
Canada?
Carla Pennesi: [00:008] My husband.
[laughter]
Carla: [00:10] I met my husband in Italy. he was here for 10 years
before I came. He was from my hometown and uh, I met him when he came to visit his family and
that’s all started 64’

Hannah: [00:31] Wow. So I guess that, so when did you, when did you first
arrive in Canada then?

Carla: [00:37] And I even, uh, the 15 of February 1966.

Hannah: [00:43] Wow. Okay. Um, and what means a transit did you take to get
to Canada? Did you fly, or did you…

Carla: [00:50] Yeah. Fly. Yeah, fly. It was a biggest prudence the
first time.

Hannah: [00:58] Are you willing to share your immigration story? Like what
kind of obstacles or barriers did you encounter as a new immigrant to Canada?

Carla: [01:10] In a way? I almost blessed it in Gianni was here who
speak their language already. So that makes it much easier for me, but I leave with the family and
be alone and when nobody from my family was there until the kids are arrive.

Hannah: [01:26] Yeah.

Carla: [01:27] Then things end up changing very much for me. Hannah:
[01:31] Did you find it hard to make friends in Canada? Carla:
[01:36]Not really. I find that people very helpful.
Hannah: [01:40] Yeah.

Carla: [01:42] Even the Canadian people, there was my neighbors or I
remember this lady, bless her soul, she was try always to make me walk home and try to talk to me.
Even the little bit that we speak

Hannah: [01:52] hmm hmm

Carla: [01:53] And that was a, you know, a great feeling but yet the
like to speak or you can speak or you can understand that the TV was already in the first few
months.

Hannah: [02:05] For sure. [silence]
Hannah: [02:20] looking back on this experience, is there anything that you
would have done differently?

Carla: [02:28] Well, yeah, I could ask her that. Well mostly do go back
to some time because if the reason I came, it wasn’t with idea of a few years and then you go back
to home, it a never happened. But that’s a different family come and then, uh, you know, if you
don’t feel you’re doing what the kids are small and start to fresh little good to them and you
know, it’ll be hard for them to adjust there. So we kinda decide to stay in Canada.

Yeah, they get their schooling and they got their job and so on and so forth.

Hannah: [03:08] Is there any moment in your experience coming to Canada that
was extremely happy or devastating did you find or was it.

Carla: [03:25] devastating no, because you know when you are with your
husband and you love each other. Any, any problems? No problem. You cope because I went through a
of different experience, uh, you know, they also, whatever, everything was different then, you
know, you assume you come, you know, you do a little bit at the time. Right. So my first couple
years of, uh, being here I find a, gradually we go ahead. Can I say it started doing a mega TV yet
and then you do a little bit at a time, you know, because we used to, when the credit card to
myself thing like that so until you really the money to buy something.

Frank Franchetto: [04:21] but he did things as they could afford. It took a lot. But yeah, I
think one of the devastating things for you would’ve been leaving your family.

Carla: [04:30] Yeah, their family I liked that more when I went back to
the first time after for a year. And then I had two kids already. Yeah. And then yesterday when
your mom, where you understand the, what’s the a mother mean? Me and I felt my mother was to be a
second time and then the first time.

Hannah: [04:52] Yeah.

Carla: [04:53] Because uh, my mom or my dad and my brother, it’s not,
we are a big family, but then they came a year and a 69’. Making sure I was okay!

Carla: [05:08] So that was a good thing for them. We can see how things
were going and then we’re happy, you know.

Hannah: [05:16] Yeah.

Carla: [05:17] we’ll try to go back as often as we could, always think
of the kids are with us.

Hannah: [05:22] Yeah.

Carla: [05:23] And um, we never did any trip any other place or do my
parents and what I like. Because they’re the only way was to go see the family. You know, once
you’re there they want to spend every second, minutes and with you. So, it’s, it was hard leave to
take a small trip away from their house.

Frank: [05:44] Does that sound familiar, Arianna?

Arianna Franchetto: [05:48] Yup.

Carla: [05:50] You go visit somebody also, you know, within a dollar
when they come home and when they come over. Yeah. You cherish every minute, yeah.

Hannah: [06:00] Did you, when you um, moved here, you say how you like went
back and visited Italy a bunch and a lot of your family moved to Canada. Did you find it hard to
keep in touch with a lot of your friends? Like friends and other family in Italy or,

Carla: [06:30] Well I have kept…myself it’s a small family let’s say,
but with the cousins I tried to keep in contact. But uh, Gianni, his family, they had kids in one
or less with a little bit older than our kids. So they really interact each other so then you know,
they’re keep in touch. I say they grow that even the way you say friendship is even better that
they, you know, they really love when they go there and spend time together and do things together.
Then it’s a, it’s a nice thing when you are so far away.

Arianna: [06:59] When you had talked to them, would it be over the phone or
would it be writing letters?

Carla: [07:01] Well, the first, the almost 10 year, my family and did
not have the phone in the house. So, it was the writing, so 15 days to come a letter, write a
letter, 15 days to get it.

Hannah: [07:14] Oh Wow.

Carla: [07:15] Then they finally, you know, they got their phone. It to
me was surprised because we were going in there at three or four every 4 years. Sometime in three,
sometimes five it depends on how things worked.
And the kids as small as they were. They would maybe, what can I say, when they go there they don’t
know Italian. know a little bit, but then because you know of all the kids that are play and the
girls and whatever, and then almost speak fluently Italian.

Arianna: [07:49] Okay.

Carla: [07:50] So when they come back, when my Mom and Dad on the
phone, it was so nice to hear them talking the phone. That’s how much I knew when they knew
Italian. You know to talk on the phone with their grandparents. It was a really nice experience.

Arianna: [08:05] You had all of your daughters here, right? In Canada?

Carla: [08:08] Yeah.

Arianna: [08:09] Okay.

Carla: [08:10] They all born here. [I ask to see some of the letter and
Carla declines]
Hannah: [08:53] Um, is there any, uh, like experience that you’d like to
share or you would like to be known for, for the project?

Carla: [09:03] Well, after six months I was here I went to work and
that, that helped me with my English. I used to go to night school for a couple year.

Hannah: [09:17] Oh really?

Carla: [09:20] for, for learning English, but really my basic from back
home.
Each, I need a more for the basic, I need the more to speak the language than to really write the
language. But every little bit helped. And then, then when I went to work after six months, because
my husband did shift work, and I find a asking the shift 4-12 a very, very long and very hard for
me to jump in if you’re in a bed in the day shift in the night shift that there has been no,
because-

[09:53][inaudible]

Hannah: [09:54] Hmm.

Carla: [09:57] And um, so then you’re, you know, you, you get adjusted
if you.
Yeah. In a way you do things because you do it together, you know. Because I find that I, I find
the right person so I suppose, and then you think you will not regret.

Arianna: [10:20] What did you do for work?

Carla: [10:23] Uh, there was a factory here in town. They used to call
it Essex Wire. Okay. So I was working new stuff, you know, but the, that for about a year and a
half and then Stephanie came in the and I was pregnant with Stephanie came and yeah,

Frank: [10:42] Your Nonna work there too.

Carla: [10:50] Yeah, I used to work. Yup. Okay. Yup. And then there was
a good experience. And because you know, you. It’s a fun experience too because uh, you know, you
don’t know really how to go to work in a factory because I never really did it back home.

Hannah: [11:05] Yeah.

Carla: [11:10] So you know, I still laughing about the first year
because I was no longer happy. Like if you go and then they take you around the factory and
everybody laugh at you because, “what’s she doing here, not the right shoes, not wearing pants.” So
then you gotta go shopping the next day. Just to fit in with the others.

Hannah: [11:34] Oh my Gosh.

Arianna: [11:33] Were there a lot of Italian woman working at the factory?
Carla: [11:37] No, it was your grandma and it was another lady that I
knew. Arianna: [11:40] Okay.
Carla: [11:42] A thing Italian, we were maybe three in our shift. And
you know, at first it was like as long as you do your work, it really wasn’t hard to work there.
And then I started to volunteer a lot after and, I still do stuff now but I never worked any more
after Stephanie came.

Hannah: [12:09] where did you, um, where did you volunteer?

Carla: [12:11] Uh, volunteered through the church, do the mission work
and stuff like that. At the school sometime. Well I used to at the school, not now anymore. But
after [inaudible] stuff like that

Arianna: [12:22] did you find a good community when you found the church and
Ingersoll?

Hannah: [12:28] Yeah.

Carla: [12:30] Yeah, well, I mean, even English people, or, or Dutch
people, or whatever it about beside the church, I find very… helpful. No other people because you
didn’t speak or they, you say, “well I’m gonna talk to her because,” they tried to explain, and
make you-

Frank: [12:46] She’s still actively involved with the church.

Arianna: [12:47] yeah.

Hannah: [12:51] Yeah. Yeah. Did you find that there was, um, a big like
Italian community cause you moved, did you move to Ingersoll when you came to Canada?

Carla: [12:57] Yeah. Well we were in Beachville for a couple of years,
the first two years. But the not many too many, I mean quite a few time, I know from my part. So
that was another problem.

Carla: [13:10] Because that mean learned three language: Friulano,
Trevisani, and English. Because I wouldn’t understand a bit of a dialect, you know, that wasn’t
just as I have a English.

Hannah: [13:31] Yeah, for sure.

Carla: [13:32] You know, at least I understand it, maybe not all the
words pretty well.

Arianna: [13:34] speak many different dialects. [Laughter]
Frank: [13:37] She understands me when I speak now. [Laughter]
Arianna: [13:45] So when you came you flew from which city in Italy? Carla:
[13:49] I flew from Rome, and take the train to get to Rome. Arianna:
[13:52] Okay.

Carla: [13:54] And then it’s about five hours away from us. Rome.

Arianna: [13:57] Okay.

Carla: [13:58] And then we got the plane and we landed in Montreal.

Arianna: [14:04] Okay.

Carla: [14:06] And then from Montreal we flew to Toronto.

Hannah: [14:07] Okay.

Arianna: [14:08] From a plane too? Okay. And then you took, so you flew from
Rome to Montreal?

Carla: [14:14] My brother came to pick us up at the airport.

Arianna: [14:19] Okay.

Carla: [14:21] And then I’m going to tell you this story. That uh, that
night there was a family friend I knew a bit about, but Gianni knew them very well.

Arianna: [14:33] Okay.

Carla: [14:33] That they made supper for us. So when we arrive in this,
supper was all ready, so we ate supper together, and back then she had two kids. The little girl
she was about five years old.

Arianna: [14:48] Okay.

Carla: [14:49] And then there was Martin. And she said to me, “Carla,
do you wanna, uh, tomorrow night,” the next nigh Gianni have to work a midnight, midnight shift. So
she said, “do you want a,” what’s her name now, “Daniella come to sleep with you? Because you’ll be
scared maybe, right?”

Hannah: [15:14] Hmm.

Carla: [15:16] So I say “you cannot send Daniella every night when he’s
a working,” because it was due every months for seven nights. But that started right away, you get
used to it. That’s what I did.

Arianna: [15:29] Aww Carla.

Carla: [15:32] Well I mean it’s the truth

Hannah: [15:35] Yeah

Carla: [15:37] You know, uh, who are you going say, come to sleep with
me. [laughter]
Carla: [15:41] I mean, and then like I put that, uh, after the first
two months it, we live in Saint Mary’s. Each, there was more people from around my province and the
same. Instead in Ingersoll, I’m the only one from [foreign].

Hannah: [16:00] Yeah

Carla: [16:01] They’re more from North Italy or a few from South.

Hannah: [16:08] And they all speak different dialects. Right?

Carla: [16:10] Right. Yeah. That’s why it was hard for me.

Arianna: [16:12] Yeah, it’s just different words.

Carla: [16:13] You know, even though.

Frank: [16:16] That’s right. Yup. So you were married there?

Carla: [16:20] I marry in Italy. Yeah. Because if Gianni came back to,
my city, we married January 29 and then we come back the 15 of February. We came back by plane.

Arianna: [16:32] Cool. That’s cool.

Carla: [16:40] yeah, yeah it’s a story, but.

Arianna: [16:42] Did you bring anything-

Carla: [16:43] That the life of everybody, eh. Another experience you
go to Saint Mary’s in February, the first shop you buy better boots.

Arianna: [16:55] Was it pretty cold? It’s pretty cold in February.

Carla: [16:58] It cold, well the house is warm, not really the cold but
uh, but different for sure.

Arianna: [17:03] Yeah. Was there anything that you packed with you that you
made sure to bring? Like any jewelry or any books or anything that you wanted to bring with you?

Carla: [17:13] Well, jewelry, we don’t have many, and I mean whatever
you had. Yeah but no. You close it because you come with the suitcase you know, help a little bit.
I said a trunk and a little bit an orderly there for some sheets and you know, like stuff life
that. Clothes because the suitcase because you could pretty much. But, um.

Frank: [17:39] Didn’t have much room to bring stuff, really.

Carla: [17:43] Well I mean, you stay a long time and you gotta bring,
you know.

Arianna: [17:48] Yeah, you gotta bring enough.

Carla: [17:51] if its essential, you know

Hannah: [17:53] Okay. Well I think that’s everything unless there’s
something else you want to share.

Carla: [18:00 Share, I don’t know. Gianni tried to renovate in his own
way. [laughter]
Carla: [18:22] to do things, wallpaper and different color in a one
room just to save the money to make new house. We did that two years after we were in Canada.

Arianna and Hannah: [18:33] Awwe

Carla: [18:34] We build this house two years after we were in Canada.

Arianna: [18:36] So, you built the house you’re in now.

Carla: [18:38] Built in 68’ in the December. It wasn’t completely
finished. It wasn’t completely finished

Arianna: [18:48] So you’ve live in that house since you moved from
Beachville?

Carla: [18:50] yes, in this house

Frank: [18:58] Four years later then, when my Dad-

Carla: [19:01] Well your dad built in-

Frank: [19:02] 70’-

Carla: [19:04] I think it was a couple years after.

Frank: [19:08] I think it would have been 72’ when we moved because I
was just starting high school.

Carla: [19:13] I thought it was closer. Well we were in Beachville two
years, and then we buy in August, and then, you know, built the inside pretty well, everything.

Frank: [19:24] Gianni, her husband, and his brother basically built this
house.

Arianna: [19:29] Wow.

Hannah: [19:30] That’s crazy.

Frank: [19:31] They were working fulltime while doing it. Arianna:
[19:36] They worked fulltime and then also built a house? Frank:
[19:38] And built a house.
Hannah: [19:41] Wow. That’s amazing.

Arianna: [19:42] You picked a good one Carla!

Carla: [19:45] yeah he was good [19:50][inaudible]
Hannah: [20:00] Well thanks for taking the time to talk to me

Audio recording of interview

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