Susan writes:

Thanks, Ann, for all your help.

If not for you identifying Pasqualino as close a relative, we wouldn’t have been able to connect. Facebook also made it easier since I was able to chat with him beforehand and let him know we were visiting. When we got to the square where we were to meet, a perfect stranger greeted us in English. Ten American women standing on a street corner in San Donato must have looked out of place. Her name was Anna and we told her why we were there. She knew Pasqualino and identified him as he approached. Pasqualino and I hugged and I had a rush of emotion like I haven’t experienced. He’s such a gentle person like my grandfather was. Anna stayed on and translated for us as we exchanged grandfather stories. It was a great evening. Even though it’s a small town and we met other people with the same surname, we realized that there are so many branches of the family that we aren’t necessarily related to everyone with that name. Without your help, we couldn’t have known for sure we were talking to relatives.  Pasqualino’s older sister joined us later in the evening and she remembered meeting my grandfather and even had a picture that was taken when he visited in the 60s.

I attached a picture of the night we met. Pasqualino is in red and he’s standing behind me holding my hand.

Thanks again, Ann, for your help with connecting our families. We couldn’t have done it without you.