DIANE MAKAR MURPHY Women reunite with their family and its beginning

It was, perhaps, the defining moment of the reunion. Pat Kimock of North Jackson stood on the deck of the tour boat and looked out at Ellis Island, as her Italian ancestors must have almost 90 years ago.
And there, too, was the Statue of Liberty holding up her beacon, lighting the way for the Gioglio family to come to the United States.
"It was certainly the most emotional part of the trip for me," Pat said. She and eight female relatives made the trip to New York and through history last month, in conjunction with their family's 50th reunion.
Four generations walked in those immigrant footsteps and imagined what 9-year-old Ambroguia Gioglio must have felt when immigration officials, unable to pronounce Ambroguia, renamed her Virginia.
Many reunions
"We've had 50 official family reunions, and many more unofficial ones as little girls," Pat said, sitting at her mother Theresa Navarro's kitchen table in Boardman. As she spoke, relatives trickled in, most to celebrate her mother and father's 60th wedding anniversary.
Also at the table was Janice Nemergut, Kimock's cousin, in from Cleveland, who also took the trip to New York City. "My dad and Theresa's mother planned the first official reunion," Janice said. "We've had them at Packard, Firestone, various places. We do Christmas Eves, too. Between 75 and 80 relatives come to those. We had over 100 at the reunion in Yellow Duck Park this year." Janice's father was one of 13 siblings, so the numbers mount.
"Some people don't know their cousins, but we are close. We still see third and fourth cousins," said Mary Lou Musitana, Theresa's sister, who joined them at the table.
The reunion is held the first Sunday after the Fourth of July each year. It starts with breakfast, followed by a picnic, card playing, games, swimming, and food that represents the extended ethnicity of the families -- fettucini, calamari and pierogis, for example. "Oh, we had a great time," Pat said. "We always do!"
But it was probably what followed that was the best part of this year's reunion -- a trip to New York City. "This year, because it was our 50th, nine of us went to Ellis Island," Janice said
"I think we wanted to try to get the feeling of what [our ancestors] experienced," Pat added.
On the trip were Theresa, 79, the matriarch; Pat, 59, her daughter; her granddaughter Kim Kuharich, 36; and her great-granddaughter Jenna Learn, 15.
Representing three generations were Diane Hodge, 60, who came in from Orange, Calif.; her daughter Dawn Alberts, 37, of Pittsburgh; and Diane's granddaughter Amy Alberts, 15. The last two travelers were Janice Nemergut, 56, and Kris Kohuth, 33, a Youngstowner.
Donning headsets, the nine toured the immigrant entry facility and took a self-guided audio tour. Eighty-six years ago, Dec. 26, 1916, it was the immigrant Gioglios who walked those rooms. Ambroguia was accompanied by her siblings, ages 3, 7, and 12, her 4-year-old twin sisters, and her mother and father. "They rode steerage; they were very poor. They road on the bottom of the ship," Pat said.
Their arrival
Mary Lou recalled the arrival as her mother Ambroguia told it. "She and Uncle Fred had smallpox and they were put aside because their mastoids were swollen. The man told them, 'I can't let you enter.' My grandmother said, 'Well then, I won't go either,' and she stood beside them. A guard felt sorry for them -- it was the day after Christmas -- and he sent them in."
In recalling seeing the Statue of Liberty rising in the harbor, Pat put her hands to her chest. "That's what the people experienced. Imagine not knowing anyone or what to expect."
"It was amazing," commented Jenna, who visited New York with her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. "I couldn't have made that journey."
The women took a whirlwind tour of New York, wearing their Gioglio reunion T-shirts on the "Today Show," visiting St. Patrick's Cathedral, seeing the musical "Mama Mia," eating dinner in Little Italy, with stops at "Regis and Kelly" and "The View." They also saw ground zero, which was all the more poignant realizing their family's connection to America and New York City.
murphy@vindy.com