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Olindo De Lollis is born
Olindo De Lollis born in the small town of Fallo, Italy. He was the third and youngest child of his parents Constantino and Vincenzina De Lollis. His sister Rosina was 10 years older than him, and older brother Adamo was 4 years older than him. Olindo is not a common name, but is often used by the De Lollis family, and he has only met one other person with his name, his first cousin Olindo. Below is a picture of Olindo's Grandfather, parents, two grandmothers, and sister Rosina. -
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Olindo De Lollis' Life
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Olindo's Family
Olindo takes great pride in his family and lived with his parents, two siblings, and in the same town as most of him family including his grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins. Since De Lollis is not a common last name, Olindo takes great pride in how his last name was passed down. This is a picture of the Direct lineage of the De Lollis name. -
Fallo, Italy
Olindo was born in Fallo which was part of the region Abruzzo. For the 16 years he lived in Italy, he lived in Fallo except for when he attended middle school in Lanciano. This is a map of the 20 regions of the Republic of Italy. Fall is located within the region Abruzzo. -
Olindo's House
The house he lived in was quite large, spanning 12 rooms and a spacious wine cellar, that was divided into two apartments. The smaller apartment was for his paternal grandparents, and he lived in the main apartment with his parents, maternal grandmother, sister, and brother. His house had three floors and they added a bathroom in 1934, and a renovation in 1935. The De Lollis' owned two additional houses in Fallo. This is a drawing of the De Lollis household in 1935. -
Elementary School
Olindo entered the first grade in September 1937 at the age of 6 years old. The town had no particular schoolhouse, but had a room in a house in the town for this purpose.The schools had desks, a blackboard, but very few other amenities. There were no bathrooms so you had to go back to your house to use the bathroom. On Saturdays, the afternoon was dedicated to the Fascist Doctrine, which involved some sort of military training. This is a picture of his Fascist Party card. -
School Life
Students were required to wear uniforms and had school each day of the week except for Sunday's and on Saturday's half the day was dedicated to the Fascist Doctrine. This is a picture of many children in Fallo in their Fascist uniforms surrounding the memorial to the fallen soldiers of WWI. -
World War II Starts
When WWII started, Olindo's dad was in the USA and had to mail letters to his family in Italy. Since all mail sent from the US to Italy was screened by the American government, his dads letters arrived months late with paragraphs even taken out at times. This was very hard for Olindo and his family because he hadn't seen his father in years because he moved to the US to make money and build a life for them their. -
Secondary School in Lanciano, Italy
In September 1942, Olindo moved to Lanciando (also part of Abruzzo) with his brother Adamo to start and spend his time in secondary school here. Olindo attended the "Istituto Magistrale Cesare De Titta" for his first year of secondary school. Olindo and Adamo both stayed with "Le Signorine Matelli," which was run by three unmarried middle aged sisters in an apartment house. -
Sabato Fascista (Fascist Saturday)
Unlike the grammar school Olindo attended in Fallo, Lanciano's schools dedicated the whole school day on Saturday to the Fascist doctrine. The day's activities consisted of Fascist doctrine, physical education, gymnastics, paramilitary training, marching, and parades. They did many of these activities in a building call the "Palazzo della G.I.L.," which was a Fascist youth organization whose main purpose was promoting Fascist devotion. Pictured: A G.I.L. poster -
German Soldiers Come to Fallo
After the Italian government declared armistice with the Allies, and the German army occupied Italy on October 13th, 1943. Very soon after, German troops started to come through Fallo. At first, most troops just passed through Fallo, then they started to stay for days, then weeks. As time went on, soldiers would enter houses and barns by force to get anything they wanted. Olindo's family was very scared and stayed in a house on the outskirts of town and had a hiding room just incase. -
Fallo Occupied
During this time Olindo and his family had to stay alert at all times. They had to hide food in their house to keep when the soldiers came to take it. Their family started to hide their food, except wine, in an old abandoned house and make trips to get it. Every chance they got to eat meat they killed it and ate right then to make sure they got the best use of it. -
Forced to Leave Fallo
German soldiers forced the De Lollis family out of Fallo, and moved into a cave that was located half a mile from Fallo. The cave had an inner cave that could be blockaded and serve as a good bunker. While avoiding the German soldiers, Olindo and Adamo carried all the food, some clothes, and blankets from the abandoned house to the cave in two days. At night while returning from town, a guard spotted them and shot two rounds from his rifle, trying to scare them. Below is a picture of Fallo. -
Explosions around Fallo
One night, Olindo and his family were woken up by explosions which sounded like they were coming from Fallo, but were actually coming from the bridges being blown up leading to Fallo. Many people of Fallo were still alive and were very joyous, but this didn't last for long. Soon after many people started dying for different reasons in Fallo. After this Fallo was quite safe but was in severe poverty, and had no water or electricity. -
Private Tutoring After the War
After 1944, Olindo and his brother Adamo, who was too sick to go back to school in Lanciano, were privately tutored in Fallo. Olindo, at the time had only gotten a letter from his father and his father had no way of knowing if they were alive. By the end of 1945, they could regularly contact his father. -
Adamo Dies
Olindo's brother, Adamo, had been sick for almost a year, lost a lot weight, had a constant fever, and was spending more and more time in bed. Due to the lack of medicines and doctors, Adamo's health just got worse and worse. Adamo had tuberculosis and soon passed away. Olindo, his mother and all his family were very saddened by this news. (The exact date he died is unknown, but died he in September, 1964). This is a picture of Adamo. -
News of Departure to America
By the end of March, 1947, Olindo and his mother were notified by the "American Export Line" that they were set to for departure to the U.S. on May 8th from Naples. When Olindo heard the news, he immediately quit school and to return to Fallo to enjoy his last few weeks in Italy with his sister and other relatives. Other than seeing his father for the first time in 10 years, Olindo was very sad to leave his sister Rosina, his niece Elisa, and the resting place of his brother Adamo. -
Traveling to America
After saying his goodbyes to his family and town, Olindo and his mother traveled to Naples on May 6th and stayed their for two and ventured through the city. On May 8th, they boarded the ship and were still grieving about leaving Rosina and Elisa. Olindo was split from his mother in their sleeping quarters, but quickly made friends with the other boys in his room. After ten days on the ship, they arrived in New York on May 18th. -
Reuniting With His Father Constantino
Since Olindo was a American citizen, him and his Mother were one of the first people off and by 10:00 AM on May 19th, 1947, Olindo and his mother were hugging his father after not seeing him for ten years. When they saw each other their were many more tears, but this time they were tears of joy. From there, they took a train to South Station in Boston, where Olindo's father lived. Below is a picture of South Station in Boston. -
Adjusting to America
When he moved to America he lived on 58 Carver Street on the second floor (on left in picture) in Boston. When Olindo moved to America, he could only speak Italian which meant he could only converse with a selective few of people, mostly consisting of his family, who were all grow-ups. He soon realized that it was time to think about school, and learning English. -
School in America
Olindo attended the School for Immigrants when he arrived in America during the summer, and then enrolled at the Abraham Lincoln School, but quit after two weeks, returning to the School for Immigrants. In September of 1949, he enrolled at Boston Technical High School, where he excelled in Mathematics. In June, 1951 he graduated from Boston Technical High School and was 20 years old. Below is Boston Technical High School. -
Being Drafted
After attending the Wentworth Institute on Huntington Avenue in the Back Bay area of Boston in September 1951 for about a year, Olindo was drafted for the U.S. army in August 1952. He was notified to report to the Draft Board office on September 10th, 1952. On September 10th he said goodbye to his crying mother and walked into the Draft Board office. With about 50 other draftees, he bused to Fort Devens, about 40 miles from Boston. -
Visiting Italy
After one year in the army, Olindo was granted a vacation and he requested 15 days in Italy. Although he was only given 10 days, Olindo returned to Italy and went back to his hometown Fallo to see his sister Rosina, and nieces Elisa and Vincenzina. He was able to spend five days in Fallo after being away for nine years and not much had changed, but he was very happy to return home. Below is a picture of a more modern Fallo. -
Serving in Germany
Olindo spent 16 moths in Germany and was able to visit the cities of Amberg and Nuremberg. He was also spent two weeks skiing at Garmish Partenkishen. In August, he left Germany for the USA and on August 27th, 1954, he was honorably discharged from the army. This is a picture of a flyer promoting working towards an honorable discharge. -
Career in America
In October 1955, Olindo started working as a technician at Raytheon Company on Chapel Street in Newton. At Raytheon the dress code was more conservative than his last jobs so it took some time to adjust. Because of his unique name, his co-workers called Ollie, which was easier for everyone to say except him. After 8 years of working here he left and joined the Transitron Electronic Corporation. Then he moved to NEC, as a Memory Product Engineer, which was much closer to his house in Wellesley. -
Meeting and Marrying Annette
While working at Raytheon, Olindo first met his wife Annette, the "love of his life." Olindo has said that out of all the places he has worked, Raytheon was the most memorable because he met Annette here. And on September 6th, 1958, Olindo and Annette got married and eventually had three children, Debbie, Tina, and Constantino. This is a picture of my grandma Annette and my grandpa Olindo with two of the bridesmaids on their wedding day. -
Conway, New Hampshire
In the early 70's, Olindo and some of his Italian friends built cottages in Conway, New Hampshire and would all go up every weekend in the winter to ski with each other. Olindo still goes up to the cottage with Annette and my dad, Tino and our family. -
85th Birthday
Olindo, now known as "Nonno," has lived a very interesting life and turned 85 on October 28th, 2016 where him, his wife, three kids and their spouses, and ten grandchildren celebrated at Capitol Grille. This is a picture of Olindo and Annette on his 85th birthday.
