Constable: Italian immigrant, U.S. Army veteran writes love story at age 87
Even before he watched American soldiers drive the Nazis from his Italian village, Rocco Blasi dreamed of living in the United States.
"It was something I wanted so badly. It becomes so much a part of you," remembers Blasi, who made good on his dreams by becoming a member of the U.S. Army, a college professor, a founder and early president of the Arts Council of Mount Prospect, and the author of several books, including his recent first novel, published at age 87, about a turbulent Eighth Century love story.
Relatives who had immigrated to the U.S. would send care packages to Blasi's family in Italy and tell stories about a land of plenty, where comfort and success were possible.
"I would see American movies over and over again," remembers Blasi, who learned how to tap dance because of American actor Gene Kelly. "It was so natural for me to love America."
Blasi grew up as one of six children born to a poor grocer named Cesare and a hardworking mom named Rosa in the small working-class town of Laurenzana, "in the Italian boot's ankle," Blasi says.
"I don't know if my parents finished grade school," Blasi says.
His father used two mules to haul food from the city to his grocery. Blasi's only toy was a used ball, and he never had a new book. But the boy craved knowledge and skipped ahead during grade school. "I always wanted to know things, ask questions," he says.
That wasn't easy.
"By the time the war came to our city, I was in fifth grade," Blasi says, recalling how his town's sheriff killed a Nazi soldier and inflamed the German Army. "The Germans blew up our bridges and said they'd kill us all."
A pair of Jewish exiles who spoke perfect German calmed the situation, and the Germans occupied Laurenzana for six months before fleeing a couple of days before a squad of Americans and Canadians liberated the town.
Blasi wanted to go to high school in the city of Potenza, about 22 miles away, "but we didn't have the money." A priest negotiated an orphan discount for Blasi, even though his parents were alive, and he walked 3½ miles from an orphanage to get to high school. Even then, there were problems.
"My English teacher got sick, so they put me in a French class," Blasi says.
He got his bachelor's degree from a college in Salerno, Italy, before being accepted into the University of Naples Medical School. The impoverished school, which kept its sole microscope behind glass, was still too expensive for Blasi.
"I couldn't afford the books, let alone tuition," he remembers.
An older sister, who immigrated to the U.S., enticed their parents to join her in Chicago. Blasi and two younger sisters took a 20-day ship journey from Naples to New York City around Christmas of 1953, just before Blasi's 21st birthday. Living in a house on the Northwest Side of Chicago, Blasi found a job filing for Kemper Insurance.
"My English was so bad, but numbers I could read," he says. Because he already knew Latin, Greek and Italian, Blasi picked up English and Spanish quickly and earned several promotions at work. He graduated in three years from DePaul University in 1957 as an English major. Then he enlisted in the U.S. Army.
"It was the least I could do for a country I loved," Blasi says. Excelling during training at Missouri's Fort Leonard Wood, Blasi was sent to officer's school, but was told he couldn't become an officer because he wasn't an American citizen.
Even so, Blasi was sent to Germany, where he quickly learned German, and became a translator and leader in the Army's intelligence division, sworn to keep those secrets from falling into enemy hands. "I was supposed to shoot a bazooka at the safe with all the documents," he remembers.
During his two years in Germany, he had a memorable leave. "I drove a 1949 Ford over the Alps all the way to southern Italy," he says. His Army service completed, Blasi was sworn in as an American citizen on Aug. 16, 1960. "My father died that afternoon of cancer," he says.
Having already written a book of his poetry in Italian, Blasi worked as a technical writer for National Cylinder Gas in Chicago before becoming editor of publications and books for Central Scientific Company in Chicago. Using the G.I. Bill, Blasi earned a master's degree in English at DePaul in 1965 and a doctoral degree from Loyola University in 1974. He found his calling in teaching, spending 40 years at Wright College in Chicago, where he retired as the head of the English Department, and teaching part-time at Harper College in Palatine for 15 years.
"Harper was a special place for me because it was at night," Blasi says, noting his students clearly wanted to learn and always came prepared. "I loved it. It was just a joy."
The father of five, and grandfather to five, Blasi has been married to his wife, Joyce, for more than 48 years. Living in the same house in Mount Prospect since 1973, Blasi coached soccer, was involved in Boy Scouts, earned a black belt in karate, and encouraged the arts through his leadership in the Arts Council of Mount Prospect. His actress daughter, Rosa, won awards as the star of the "Strong Medicine" series on the Lifetime channel.
Having written his doctoral thesis on translating an Eighth Century love story, Blasi gives it a new twist in his novel, "Florio and Biancofiore: Peripatetic Lovers," published by Vanguard Press in England,
"Long before Romeo and Juliet, there were Florio and Biancofiore," Blasi says.
The transformation of a poor Italian immigrant into a highly educated English novelist isn't lost on him. Blasi says, "Life is full of delicious ironies, don't you find?"