In 1992 Filomeno (Phil) Palmieri left this world.  Phil however continues to live in the minds and hearts of his children and some grandchildren. As the years pass one by one his lifeline disappears with the passing of his brothers, friends and sons. More and more as each new grandchild and great grandchild was born less and less of who Phil is was carried down orally to them. It started to become obvious that soon Phil would become a distant memory and would fade into oblivion and become just another picture on the wall. This thought was too much to bear, so Carlo (Tuchy) Palmieri, his son decided to commit to writing the words of His Dad. This was done by taking what Phil orally taught him and his sibling’s .It began by taking those words that were stored in the minds of his children.  The reader was given a background commentary about the words to further clarify their meaning and to reinforce them.

The book was completed and Phil’s words were preserved.  Carl wanted to ensure that the book accomplished its task of having Phil live through his words. To accomplish this he invited Phil’s grandchildren and great Grandchildren that were born after his passing to attend a reading of the words.  In attendance were:

Emily his 17 yr old granddaughter who was one when Phil passed

Sean his 16 yr old Great Grandson

Alicia his 14 yr old Great Grand daughter

Heather his 14 yr old Great Daughter

Andrew his 12 year old Grandson

James his 12 yr old Grandson

Julia his 11 year old Great Grand daughter

Stephen his 10 year old Grandson

Thomas his 10 yr old Grandson

CJ (Short for Carlo John) his 7 yr old Great Grandson)

The reading session was conducted and narrated by Kathleen Agid, the Daughter of the Author.

It became clear that the book was a total success. The children’s relationship with their Grand Father/great Grand Father was transformed. Prior to the reading the relationship had been slightly more than a picture on the wall. Here are the comments made by Phil’s Family.

Stephen

Determined to make sure the children had what other kids had even when he was poor.

Andrew

Worked really hard and taught his children to work

Sean

Didn't realize how much he had to do and how far he had to come.

Alicia

Lessons taught are similar to her parents who help throughout life

Julia

Realized how hard working he was and had a lot of good habits

Heather

He was one of those people that when you meet him you know he was worth meeting

Hard working, Honest, Friend

What traits we would like to have or do have that were traits of Phil...

Sean - I wish I worked as hard

Andrew- Hard Worker

Stephen- gets up early

Heather – I picked up his determination

Alicia - We all like going to the beach as he did

Mary- He was a people magnet

Kathleen- I took his sales ability to turn an unhappy customer into a very happy person purchasing double.

After the reading, all the family visited Phil’s grave. A red rose was given to each and Family member to place on the grave.

The day ended by Carl taking everyone to Ben and Jerry’s for Ice Cream.

Carl was very happy as he knew he made a difference in the lives of The Children and that His Dad would live on and on in the book PHIL IN HIS WORDS