On Feb. 7, the Archdiocese of Toronto will celebrate all married couples who have protected that mission and are celebrating important milestones this year.
Not many couples have protected that mission longer than Nick and Rose Mammola. The Mammolas recently celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary, renewing their vows in front of the congregation at Toronto’s Precious Blood parish.
“Today is always best part,” said Nick, the 96-year-old who is quick with one-liners and quips.
Rose, who just turned 92, is the storyteller. She said the occasion is about celebrating the family she and her husband built together.
The Mammolas have four children. Joseph, 68, is the oldest. Then twin girls, Angela Lamberti and Rose Calla, are both 64 years old. Nancy Kinmonth, 57, is their youngest.
Kinmonth said her parents are “ferociously loyal” to each other. Growing up, it wasn’t hard to learn what makes a good marriage.
“They are just wonderful parents and wonderful examples,” she said. “We didn’t even have to learn it, we just had to watch and learn. It was so easy. They are kind and thoughtful and caring to everybody. It didn’t matter who you are.”
From their four children, the Mammolas have been blessed with seven grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. All four generations celebrated the special occasion on Jan. 16 at the family’s Scarborough home of 40 years.
“All my children wanted to celebrate and come over,” said Rose. “I enjoy having all the kids around... Some people don’t like kids, but I was so happy to have them all around.”
The Mammolas’ story is like something out of a classic romance film. They lived in a small mountain town called Mammola in the Reggio Calabria province in Italy. They met at the wedding of Nick’s sister to Rose’s uncle.
They hadn’t known each other for very long before Italy declared war on France and England in 1940. Nick enlisted in the army and left for Greece to fight in the Second World War.
“I go in the army and when I came to the army, I had in my mind, when I (return) to Mammola, I said I love her, I’ll marry her,” he said.
Nick was taken as a prisoner of war in 1943 and placed in an internment camp in Greece.
Rose said that was a very scary time for her because for two-and-a-half years, she, along with Nick’s family, did not know if he was dead or alive. She said all she could do was pray to God for his safe return.
When the war ended in 1945, Nick was released from the prison camp. He wasted no time when he got back home to Mammola. On Jan. 3, 1946, Nick and Rose were married in the town’s mother church.
“The wedding was very, very nice,” said Rose. “One thing is that we didn’t have many clothes to buy.”
The wedding was simple. There are no photos of the wedding day. Like the rest of Europe after the war, their small mountain town had very few resources to go around. The ceremony was modest, but the whole town was involved in the occasion.
“We got married on Thursday and Saturday, (my wedding dress) was loaned to somebody else,” said Rose. “Everybody in the farm had the same wedding dress… Everything was borrowed.”
After the Mass, the couple processed through the town streets in the rain. Rose’s mother and sister cooked food for about 200 of their guests. Then there was a power outage that lasted the entire night.
“With the (power outage), she kept tight on my arm the whole night,” Nick said, winking at Rose.
For the first five years of their marriage, Nick worked on farms while Rose stayed home to raise their son. Eventually, work became sparse. To provide for his family, Nick left for Belgium in 1951 to work in the coal mines. Rose remembers this as the hardest time of their marriage. For three-and-a-half years, their only communication was through letters and telegrams.
Rose was now raising their son and newborn twins by herself. Nick missed their birth and didn’t meet them until they were about 18 months old.
“It was hard,” said Rose. “Especially when my son, all the time, wants his daddy, where’s his daddy, but his daddy’s not home.”
Even though it was difficult, Rose said she appreciated Nick’s work was doing to provide for the family.
In 1955, Nick and his brother travelled to Canada by boat. They worked in construction in downtown Toronto for one year to earn enough money to bring their wives and children over in 1956.
Rose was the rock of the family’s spiritual life. No matter where they lived, the Mammola family remained faithful to attending Sunday Mass. Rose always scrubbed the girls clean and laid their best clothes and matching purses every week.
“She is a good lady, a good wife,” said Nick. “She takes care of everything.”
“He is a good man. He works hard and takes good care of me and the children,” said Rose.
In 70 years of marriage, Rose said the best lesson they can share is to stay together no matter what.
“Today is bad, but tomorrow is good, that’s the way it goes,” said Rose. “You need patience to take care of the family. I have to say that I enjoy my family, my marriage, my husband, everybody.”