An American Family's Legacy~ Three Generations In The Making! Congratulations Alexander Panaccio

Big congratulations and a shout out to my youngest nephew Alexander Panaccione, my brother Jack's son! He graduated from Vanderbilt with his Phd. in medical research, he graduated from Emory with his medical degree earlier. We are all very proud of him, and knew he could do it!

It's kinda hard to believe that Alex is only the third generation American here on his Dad's side of the family. I'm the second generation and was the first to get a graduate degree~ in nursing from FSPH (now Tennessee Wesleyan) and Health and Human Services from the University of Tennessee! So it's great to see the next generation continuing onward...my eldest nephew Jay and my niece Jennifer also have secondary degrees! So the entire third generation are college graduates! Woo! HOOOOOO!

Think about where we came from. In the late 1880's my Grandfather Crezenzo (Christopher) was a coal tender on a ship much like Titanic (only smaller!) He signed on to shovel coal into the steam engines for twelve hours on, twelve hours off. Apparently the crossing was more than enough for him...and he blended into the Boston Little Italy....>ahm< (guess he 'forgot' to report back!)

The Great War came and Crezenzo volunteered to fight for the U.S. He was in the European theater and survived. He was given U.S. citizenship in appreciation, and any of his family who wanted to come could as well. Some family came, but his Mom and Dad stayed in Italy. In the nineteen twenties he was engaged to a beautiful girl whose family had emigrated from the same area in the old country~ Frosonone. It was an arranged marriage. Can you believe it? Arranged.

Grandma was sixteen when she delivered your Grandfather...my Dad. Healthcare being what it was back then, she died in childbirth, not even holding her newborn child. Grandpa was in his forties.

Dad was brought up by a step-mother. He went to WWII and was stationed in the Pacific. Worked at first as a cook. Then somehow moved to helping load bombs onto B-29 bombers. One day he got under one of the bombs and it swung out of the sling it was in~ and dropped on his shoulders! Luckily, he was standing in a muddy area, and was slammed into the mud. It wasn't discovered for many hours that he was alive. It was the end of the War for him.

He came back to the states, rehabbed, then married Grandma. They moved back to N.J. where Dad had grown up. Dad took art school classes. Then he built his own art retouching studio in NYC. After Aunt Linda moved to Tennessee, he and Grandma retired to Tennessee to be close to her.

And now here you ARE!!! In a few short generations...from a coal-tender on a ship....to a Great-grandson who is a research physician! Congratulations Alex! May all your endeavors be fruitful!

Much Love, Auntie Lisa Panaccione~Vaught and Unk Bill and Frax

*We wish we could have been there for your Big Day, but rest assured that you have been and remain in our thoughts and prayers on this your Big Day, and every day before and since. *