Angeloni Group has announced has approved the project for a new logistics center in Castano Primo (Milan The new 1,500 square meter refrigerated area located close to the existing impregnation plant will bolster the storage and distribution capabilities of prepregs globally with the center expected to be operational by June 2025 The production site in Castano Primo hosts the pre-impregnation processes of fabrics produced by the Angeloni Group Inaugurated in 1976 as Impregnatex Srl and part of Angeloni Group since 2002 the facility is specialized in the production of advanced composites and glass fibers combined with special matrices based on epoxy and phenolic resins The site boasts a dedicated R&D department focused on the continuous development of new resin systems for pre-impregnated fabrics Recent advancements include the development of high Tg transparent systems and structural systems suitable for autoclave The facility includes a test center equipped with state-of-the-art hot presses and a cutting-edge autoclave “We can test our composite materials under the same working conditions as our customers thus improving the performance of our products daily,” explains Edoardo Torno “We specialize in performing both analytical tests (DSC DMA & TGA) and static mechanical tests according to internationally recognized standards (ASTM) allowing us to thoroughly characterize our products and provide comprehensive performance data as laminated materials Our commitment extends to actively supporting our customers in overcoming processing challenges replicating their curing processes accurately ensuring they receive the best possible support for their unique needs.” Angeloni Group has announced has approved the project for a new logistics center in Castano Primo (Milan Wanted in MilanMembership 100-year-old Guido Stangalini and his wife Maria Pagani live in the Castano Primo area just outside Milan Their touching story, told by the town's mayor Giuseppe Pignatiello, was published by Italian newspaper La Repubblica Guido and Maria had decided to move into the town's nursing home during February of this year Guido moved in first, with Maria due to follow a few days later. However the covid-19 pandemic exploded in the meantime leading to the banning of all visits to nursing homes "Maria and Guido are one of those couples from the past who do everything together" - the mayor told La Repubblica - "For those who in 70 years of marriage have never experienced such a long separation these days must have seemed like an eternity." Guido spent his time praying that he would see Maria "at least one last time," according to the nursing home director Diego Colombo Guido's prayers were answered because Maria arrived at the home yesterday accompanied by the couple's two children" - said Mayor Pignatiello - "The husband was waiting for her in the lobby in front of the church Guido and Maria promised they would never leave each other again "I decided to tell the tears of joy of Guido and Maria" - said the mayor - "because even if they did not experience the suffering of disease have been forced in these difficult months into a forced separation from loved ones." Wanted in Milan ™ is member of the Wanted World Wide Ltd network.Click here to find out more about our Network or Follow us on social networks © 2025 / 2026 Wanted World Wide LTD Network The tanning industry in Lombardy and indeed all of Italy is steeped in mourning Gianmario Ramponi passed away before his time was the owner of Conceria Stefania (Castano Primo) along with his brothers Angelo and Dino The company has always been an excellent player in the Italian tannery sector and Gianmario and his brothers had joined it as the second generation Stefania had been incorporated in 1944 by their father Francesco who had ensured that the company worked with a close focus on tradition Stefania already hosts the third generation of the family: Andrea and Francesco (the sons of Angelo Ramponi) Carlo (Dino’s son) and Camilla (Gianmario’s daughter) Gianmario did not have precise duties in the company the three brothers had always arranged for the company to be shared equally by all three both in terms of its management and also creatively speaking All you need to know about the leather industry Plasteurope.com is a business information platform for the European plastics industry It is part of KI Kunststoff Information and PIE Plastics Information Europe one of the leading content providers for the European plastics industry We offer daily updated business news and reports polymer prices and other services for the international plastics industry News | Polymer Prices | Suppliers Guide | Jobs | Register | Advertising This website is using a security service to protect itself from online attacks The action you just performed triggered the security solution There are several actions that could trigger this block including submitting a certain word or phrase You can email the site owner to let them know you were blocked Please include what you were doing when this page came up and the Cloudflare Ray ID found at the bottom of this page Joe Savoldi boarded a train bound for Philadelphia and what would be his final college football game and Savoldi and the other members of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish traveled in comfort and extravagance; onboard services included a barber and a sleeper car with three drawing rooms The Golden Arrow was scheduled to arrive at West Philadelphia Station at 9:04 the next morning giving the players a day to rest and prepare for their game at Franklin Field against Penn The contest promised to capture the interest of the entire city Grantland Rice had memorably compared the Fighting Irish’s backfield to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse “outlined against a blue-gray October sky.” By writing for The New York Herald Tribune — his story ran on the newspaper’s front page and in other papers around the country — Rice had the power to lift Notre Dame’s program into legend despite playing all their games on the road as the university was building a $750,000 football stadium Savoldi had emerged as one of the squad’s most popular and recognizable figures young men made famous through the words and photos that blackened daily broadsheets and the smoky static-flecked voices that poured forth from Radiolas and Philcos Savoldi was 22 years old and powerfully built One sportswriter described him as “the most remarkably developed lad [who] ever applied to Rockne for a football suit supported from a wasplike waist on a pair of equally sturdy legs.” Born in Castano Primo he had come to the United States when he was 11 and developed his strength by toting bricks up ladders to help his uncle John construct churches and other buildings in Three Oaks It took the boy just two years to complete the coursework required to move up from kindergarten to eighth grade and having taken pride in ridding himself of his accent he delivered the oration at the Class of 1927’s commencement “Quo Vadis Italia” (“Where Are You Marching Rockne swooped in before the University of Michigan could get an official commitment from Savoldi — it didn’t take much to persuade the Savoldis that Notre Dame was the right fit — and an injury opened a spot in the starting lineup for him as a junior in which he leaped into the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line gave him a nickname: “Jumping Joe Savoldi.” Savoldi was poised as a senior to become a national sensation he fielded the first kickoff that the Fighting Irish received in their new palatial stadium and weaved 98 yards for a touchdown he had 356 rushing yards and seven touchdowns His coaches regarded him as a sweet-tempered kid and terrific player who was capable of even greater feats “I don’t believe the boy was ever angry at anybody,” Jack Chevigny “If once we can get him thoroughly mad in a football game If Savoldi appeared at ease during the 17½-hour trip to Philadelphia carrying himself with his usual amiable calm where choices and actions that he had done his best to conceal would be revealed to the entire nation a series of events had begun to unfold that would lead to the end of Joe Savoldi’s career at Notre Dame and to his embarking on an American life so accomplished and so secretive that it seems as one contemplates its scope and even confirms its facts and even Franklin Field had trouble accommodating everyone who wanted to attend the game Penn had not had a losing season in 15 years maintaining its standing as one of college football’s elite programs the university had expanded Franklin Field into the country’s first two-tiered stadium increasing its capacity to more than 78,000 The Inquirer published on its front page a photograph snapped from an airplane above West Philadelphia a gigantic swarm around a white-lined rectangle The paper estimated that 80,000 people squeezed themselves into the stadium and that another 25,000 had been caught in traffic outside the east gate and missed the opening kickoff — “the greatest throng ever to witness a gridiron game in this city.” Notre Dame scored the game’s first 43 points and won Quakers coach Lud Wray later wrote that the Fighting Irish “seemed inspired when they played on Franklin Field There was no stopping their irresistible attack.” Martin Brill a halfback who had transferred to Notre Dame from Penn Savoldi rushed for 84 yards and crashed through the Quakers’ overmatched defensive line for a 1-yard score But the game itself was not the news of the day With the visitors’ locker room still thick the smells of sweat and mashed sod reporters asked Savoldi: Had he ever been married There was a good reason for the two-pronged question The South Bend Tribune had published a salacious scoop: A year-and-a-half before But on the same day that Notre Dame’s football team embarked for Philadelphia a local judge filed a divorce action bearing Savoldi’s signature Savoldi had charged his wife with "cruelty and added that she … quarreled with him over trifling matters,” according to The Tribune who had officiated the couple’s wedding ceremony “The whole thing is news to me,” Savoldi said after the game His denial didn’t satisfy university officials Notre Dame did not condone or abide either interfaith marriage or divorce according to a university disciplinary report “resulting in public discredit” to the school Savoldi’s personal affairs might not have been noteworthy who has spent more than 30 years researching his grandfather’s life believes the questions caught Savoldi off guard: “He assumed it would all remain fairly quiet.” The truth is that while the marriage was not common knowledge Savoldi’s closest friends on the team knew he had a wife — and that Koehler had tricked him into marrying her by telling him she was pregnant that the two of them had never lived together that he stayed in the dorms and she remained at home with her parents and even Savoldi’s family may have been unaware of his relationship with her told The Associated Press hours after the Penn game 192 reporters were waiting to interrogate Savoldi the team’s starting quarterback and Savoldi’s roommate did his best to protect him by filibustering and deflecting the questions he admitted to school administrators that he had indeed married Koehler he either could not or would not exercise his influence to keep Savoldi on the team “The officials at Notre Dame would have made no decision so decisive unless there was a good reason,” Rockne said “If Joe had only taken me into his confidence maybe this whole matter could have been straightened out.” and the episode faded from public discussion “He never talked about it or complained,” Jim Savoldi says “He eventually went to his grave knowing whatever he knew it is what it is — an interesting mystery.” Savoldi agreed to a contract with the Chicago Bears a decision that caused another controversy to arise around him the National Football League had a rule that a team could not sign a player who had not yet graduated from college determined that Bears owner George Halas had violated the rule by acquiring Savoldi Despite already having two outstanding running backs on the roster — Red Grange and Bronco Nagurski — Halas and coach Ralph Jones wanted Savoldi to suit up at the earliest opportunity: the Bears’ next game against the Chicago Cardinals on Thanksgiving Savoldi scored the only touchdown in a 6-0 victory chump change compared to the $12,000 they paid Savoldi for his three games that season making him the second-highest-paid player in the NFL engendered no loyalty from his new teammates I just got the ball and held it and stood there and said Hollywood came calling; he screen-tested for the role of Tarzan by inviting him to rejoin the football team for an exhibition game — the Notre Dame All-Stars against the West/South All-Stars at the Los Angeles Coliseum and as if to remind everyone who he had been Savoldi scored all three of his team’s touchdowns Two men at the Coliseum needed no reminding partners in the professional wrestling business approached Savoldi after the game with a lucrative proposal: Forget football Pro wrestling enjoyed a popularity then that was at least the equal of the NFL’s routinely drew crowds of more than 20,000 and was responsible for more than $5 million at the gate » READ MORE: Philanthropist Richard MacSherry was 9 when Lehigh graduate Francis Willis saved him from drowning The opportunity was tailor-made for Savoldi He had wrestled and boxed to stay in shape at Notre Dame he had fortified himself against the violence of his new profession Pro wrestlers faced off in plywood-covered boxing rings that lacked the relative cushion and recoil of springs and canvas mats the arenas heated themselves into stews of flying teeth The sporting press covered matches as if they were on the level Savoldi needed just 13 minutes to win his first match Using the same agility and leaping ability that had served him so well in football in which he would jump straight up and thrust both of his legs into his opponent’s chest sending the opponent careening across the ring while Savoldi fell It was just the flourish he needed to rise in the game his gate receipts ranging from $12,000 to $24,000 per show “I pack ’em in wherever I go,” he once said His name and photograph never left the papers to a woman from Santa Monica named Daisy Florence Londos had been the champ for nearly three years They faced off for the world title at Chicago Stadium on April 7 thinking that the referee was signaling them to loosen their grips Savoldi threw Londos down and held his shoulders against the mat long enough skepticism was always advisable after a surprising outcome fueled by accusations that a few promoters had wanted to wrest the title away from Londos had to determine whether it should recognize Savoldi as the official and legitimate champion Illinois suspended wrestling in the state to investigate eventually upholding the decision but deeming the bout a non-championship match Savoldi was publicly either silent or inscrutable He had other matters on his mind: He had been separated from Daisy for six months and their divorce was finalized on April 14 During a three-hour hearing in Philadelphia on April 26 the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission learned that Savoldi had signed a contract with a Canadian syndicate that guaranteed him $100,000 if he beat Londos and Mangoff testified that he would be officiating several of Savoldi’s matches in Canada Savoldi said that he was unaware of any such arrangement Pennsylvania ruled for Londos to remain world champ “My grandfather’s sole intention was to pin him,” Jim Savoldi says it still leaves open the possibility that the ref had stacked the deck There was no such ambiguity in Savoldi’s next match Newly married for the third time — to the former Lois Poole whom he had met in South Bend four years earlier — Savoldi threw the bout and freeing himself to go wherever and do whatever he wished He toured the globe for years: New Zealand living on the Left Bank with Lois and their son and his eyes had “lost the luster of youth,” Brown wrote “except when he starts to demonstrate a pet hold that he billed as “The Drink for All Americans.” But once the United States entered World War II and rationed sugar he had no way to mass-produce the beverage He had spent much of his life entertaining the world He had spent much of his life in the public eye A particular group of men had been watching him Catoctin Mountain Park was a place that nature had designed for secrecy: 10,000 acres of forest canopied by young trees — chestnuts and white pines Franklin Delano Roosevelt chose Catoctin as the site for his presidential retreat setting it on a mountainside camp once used by the Boy Scouts The park was just 65 miles north of Washington that the Office of Strategic Services — created by an executive order from Roosevelt in June 1942 the precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency — taught men how to kill and how to slip from death’s grasp without making a sound how to disguise their voices and their faces and identities for the sake of a cause and their country and their own survival It was where a man was dispatched after an OSS interviewer had sized him up at a small brick D.C after the agency had taken away his wallet and photographs and identification stripped him of his outer clothes and cut the name tags from his underwear blanched his past and deemed him ready to lead a double life It was where Joe Savoldi learned to become a spy There are many details and elements of Savoldi’s life that are unknowable mined college campuses and cocktail parties for recruits — bankers all of them with just enough of the devil in them to make them valuable in war “They were definitely mavericks,” says Kasey Clay Donovan sought men who were “calculatingly reckless,” possessed “disciplined daring,” and predisposed to “aggressive action.” And if some of them happened to be recent immigrants from Germany “to pay off their obligations to their adopted lands as well as to drive the dictators from their ancestral homes” — all the better The price of capture could be torture in a prisoner-of-war camp or death by firing squad So … a professional wrestler and football player who as a teenager had called out the fascism of his native country Savoldi’s profile hit the agency’s sweet spot Harris of the OSS interviewed him in July 1942 and found him “a person who is not only extremely intelligent but superbly qualified because of his excellent physical condition … He is also shrewd in the tricks of personal combat.” At Catoctin he became one of 400 men to undergo the OSS’s special-operations training Each course was taught in a gray-roofed cabin and lasted two to three weeks The skills that recruits had to master ranged from Morse code to ciphers to lock-picking to assembling and firing a .45-caliber pistol to talents that were more … particular whose life was the inspiration for Steve McQueen’s character in The Great Escape and he demonstrated to his students how to subdue an opponent with a pen or pencil highlighting pressure points on the human body that Savoldi jerked free of an assistant instructor’s hold and sprained the man’s wrist “Captain,” Savoldi asked after class ended dropping Sage to the ground and filling his mouth with dirt and gravel “The maneuver was remarkable for a man of his size,” Sage later wrote in his memoir we didn’t try to change the habits of a man who was already a good boxer or wrestler.” Those habits and his fluency in Italian made Savoldi an obvious and immediate asset — and ideal for one of the agency’s most audacious missions Believing that Massimo Girosi — a leader of the Italian navy whose family had long been loyal to the country’s former king Umberto I — might turn against Benito Mussolini the OSS hatched a plot: Perhaps the agency — with the aid of Girosi’s brother Marcello who was living in New York — could persuade Massimo to surrender the entire fleet to the Allies » READ MORE: Philadelphia basketball great Michael Brooks, and the son he never met the OSS couldn’t be certain that Marcello himself wasn’t an Italian agent one of the leaders of the McGregor operation suggested that the team add another member whose responsibility would be to guard Girosi As Burke perused a list of Italian-speaking trainees “Is that ‘Jumping Joe Savoldi?’ " he asked This is just a word of caution to warn you not to mention your connection with our outfit I know this is unnecessary but it pays to be overcareful not only for ourselves but for your own good that when we call you down here that you should just drop out of your present picture quietly and with no publicity If necessary you could explain to your friends that you have been called to Washington by the War Department for some sort of consultation We will be getting in touch with you in the near future Savoldi signed on in June 1943 for $400 a month One of his aliases would be “Joseph DeLeo,” a name Gen Eisenhower once mistakenly used to identify him in a confidential travel memorandum His cover story was that he was touring Europe entertaining the troops with wrestling exhibitions his monthly paychecks were mailed in plain envelopes and not on OSS letterhead Lois Savoldi once said that it wasn’t until Burke’s book was published in 1984 that she learned the nature of her husband’s work his family received the most cursory of letters from the agency On Aug. 9, 1943, Lois wrote a letter to R. Davis Halliwell chief of the OSS’s special-operations branch: Since you have been kind enough to send me news of my husband on two occasions I am taking the liberty of asking you to see that he gets the enclosed letter Savoldi has heard no news of us in the almost seven weeks he has been away and I’ve written almost every day I had his second cable asking me to write … he apparently still had had no means to What she didn’t know, couldn’t know, was that her husband and Burke already had flown from Washington to Algiers. They rendezvoused there with another member of the McGregor team and with a courier charged with delivering a letter outlining the wild plan that the OSS had devised “Tommy,” carried the letter in the slit cover of a book dead bodies rank under a blazing sun four days after American troops had first landed there the 10-man crew boarded two patrol-torpedo boats and pointed north for the Gulf of Gaeta gripping either a machine gun or an Oerlikon cannon Savoldi could see the Tyrrhenian Sea stretching before him tranquil and bathed in pale light from a full moon that painted the water a brilliant blue The reality of war soon pierced the beauty Three German JU 88 bombers cut across the sky the men aboard noticed glowing dots in the darkness: fishermen The radar on Burke’s boat picked up another foreboding piece of information: A German E-boat had set out from the north end of the gulf but shepherding “Tommy” to land required dropping a rubber raft into the water They turned around and returned to Palermo they tried again but chose a different penetration point: to the south Weeks later he delivered the letter to Massimo Girosi was receptive to turning the navy over to the Allies But unbeknownst to the McGregor men or the Girosi brothers Eisenhower already had begun negotiating Italy’s surrender with Gen who would soon replace Mussolini as prime minister he and the rest of the McGregor team hitched a ride on a British torpedo boat to Salerno waiting for the signal to get back to the fray the boat broke through morning fog to the awesome sight of the British fleet — cruisers As the convoy rumbled slowly over the roiling sea and one team member became so ill that Burke noted it in his log notes: “Savoldi’s stomach not too tranquil.” A liaison craft zipped the men to the beach and they sprinted on the sand as German mortar bombs exploded around them and fell asleep to the screeching and reports of German shells the McGregor team remained trapped in Salerno Even a daring move by Savoldi and Shaheen — they dashed to the beach one morning and commandeered a landing craft — didn’t work They had to abandon it in the harbor for a rescue tug “was my toothbrush and a tube of paste.” As the men tried to pack up their remnants the Germans began launching more 88mm shells at them with such accuracy that seawater splashed into the men’s faces They were pinned behind cement blocks for 15 minutes until a British landing ship came for them “I was never so glad to see anybody in all my life,” Savoldi said later With the Italians’ surrender now formalized the McGregor team took on its new assignment One of the Axis’ most potent weapons was the SIC torpedo designed with a state-of-the-art electromagnetic configuration that allowed it to detonate and destroy a vessel just by passing underneath it The OSS estimated that the Nazis had ordered 12,000 of them The initials “SIC” stood for Silurificio Italiano Calosi and that final word was the key to the team’s mission The scientist who had perfected the device was Professor Carlo Calosi 42-year-old scientist at the University of Genoa either he would continue helping them develop weapons The McGregor team’s orders: Find Calosi and spirit him out of Italy Savoldi and the team sent through the Italian underground a message to Calosi’s last-known address in Rome a member of the Italian Secret Information Service contacted him: You’re leaving tomorrow Calosi hopped a dilapidated railway car from the convent to a villa on the Tyrrhenian coast where he and six members of the Italian military waited for the McGregor men Calosi met with representatives of the American Scientific Mission demystifying for them the technology behind the SIC torpedo and other armaments the Allies had saved themselves a year’s worth of research Though Savoldi continued working for the OSS — he went undercover in Naples to break up several of the city’s mafia-controlled black markets — the Calosi mission was the peak of his intelligence career memo notifying him that his employment would end in 30 days Please send me an idea of something that I can say as I am going back to public life (wrestling) and I am sure that the newspapers will ask a million questions and I don’t want to be blamed for any newspaper man misunderstanding anything I have to say “Let’s just say I was working for the government on special assignment.” Less than four weeks later, on Jan. 16, 1945, a United Press International reporter interviewed Savoldi before his return to pro wrestling — at the Met in North Philadelphia The reporter asked if Savoldi had been discharged from the Army Let’s just say I was working for the government on special assignment.” His wrestling career resumed the next night on Broad Street If Joe Savoldi’s story began in West Philadelphia with a scandal He had stopped wrestling by the early 1950s A 1945 book about the OSS’s exploits in World War II pointing out inaccuracies and scribbling corrections in the margins He had seen the big places but missed the little moments as Joe III grew to be a track-and-field standout at Michigan State needing less than a year at Evansville (Ind.) College to finish his B.A a Baptist pastor who was running a club for troubled boys in Evansville read a short newspaper article that said Savoldi had moved to the area and was studying to become a teacher He asked the old champion if he’d like to show the boys a few wrestling moves His hands curled and aching from arthritis Savoldi could not pick up the barbells himself But he volunteered at the local community center every Thursday evening for three years never mentioning to the boys anything about his past “I thought it would be great for them to be able to say they knew one of the greats,” Frellick even if they didn’t fully appreciate who he was.” All the football games and wrestling matches all the drop-kicks and the wartime horrors all the physical and psycho-emotional strain had left scars obvious and invisible Savoldi slept atop an inch-thick wooden board that he had slid underneath a sheet on one side of his and Lois’ bed so unflappable and confident and cool that he had once snoozed through a nightlong Nazi bombardment to having nightmares so vivid that he took medication before laying his head on the pillow Jim Savoldi always thought it strange that whenever he and his brother visited their grandparents Lois demanded that they make her a promise: that they would never play football or wrestle “to say that his body was completely destroyed The life he had lived robbed him of the years he wanted.” Henderson County High School hired Savoldi as a science teacher A fellow faculty member said of him at the funeral “I never knew him before he came to teach at Henderson County High but I don’t think I ever thought more of any other teacher I’ve known.” Jim was just 12 then as an undergraduate at Auburn University in the mid-1980s he found himself sitting at a microfilm machine one day rifling through archived New York Times articles about Joe’s exploits at Notre Dame hoping to verify the tales that he had long heard a financial market analyst in San Francisco and people think it’s odd that he continues adding to his three decades of research that he has spent so much time investigating the life of someone both so famous and so furtive he gathers whatever minutiae and memories he can — scattered shards and fragments of Joe’s story that have been forgotten or ignored or will soon disappear he or someone else might piece them together and preserve the narrative “My focus has always been to bring the true story to the public,” he says He has pursued and is optimistic about the prospects of a book or film to tell it in full “Tommy,” carried the letter in the slit cover of a book."},{"_id":"JQN4O23VYVFOTDUUQD3JAR3254","type":"text","additional_properties":{"_id":1566243211865},"content":"By Aug to(#fff));background:-o-linear-gradient(top #fff 100%);background:linear-gradient(to bottom to(#f1f1f1));background:-o-linear-gradient(top #f1f1f1 100%);background:linear-gradient(to bottom #f1f1f1 100%)}@media only screen and (max-width: 800px){#SielskiSavoldihowwereportedthis.g-medium{width:calc(100% + 40px);max-width:none;display:block;float:none;margin:30px 0;padding:20px 0;border-top:1px solid #eee;border-bottom:1px solid #eee;background:white}#SielskiSavoldihowwereportedthis.g-medium .sidebar-inner-text::before{background:-webkit-gradient(linear to(white));background:-o-linear-gradient(top white 100%);background:linear-gradient(to bottom white 100%)}#SielskiSavoldihowwereportedthis.g-medium .sidebar-expand{background:#f1f1f1 !important}}#SielskiSavoldihowwereportedthis.g-medium .sidebar-expand{background-color:#ddd}\n \n \n \n \n How we reported the Joe Savoldi story\n This story is drawn from interviews when he's fully recovered from heart surgery 97-year-old Richard MacSherry will donate $1 million to Orlando's Florida Hospital a Main Line native who has lived much of his life alongside a river that was nearly his grave A great-grandson of the railroad magnate who founded Lehigh University and nature preserves in Florida and near his Upstate New York home "To me," he said recently at his lakeside condominium in Mount Dora "I really haven't paid back very much at all." He owes that debt to a long-forgotten ghost and fate — both unimaginably cruel and providential — that it seems drawn from the Greek mythology its doomed hero eagerly consumed as a child "Francis Willis," MacSherry said "deserves as much credit as we can give him." his death was made more tragic by its timing four days after he had graduated as Lehigh's No.1 civil-engineering student six days after he had gotten engaged to a descendant of Martha Washington 14 days after he had accepted a job with a powerful Philadelphia company He died saving the life of 9-year-old Dick MacSherry Filled with elements reminiscent of the film It's a Wonderful Life the fateful intersection of these two sons of privilege features a cast that includes scions of Pennsylvania industrialists and prominent Revolutionary War-era families recovering from double heart-valve surgery MacSherry has lifted his Main Line reserve and agreed to tell the story publicly "He's mentioned it only occasionally," said son Richard H "It's not something he's proud of." uncovered a trove of information that sheds light on his short but remarkable life Inside a musty scrapbook that for decades sat unread and unnoticed by Anne Willis is a biography of the victim composed by his father Charles Ethelbert Willis' narrative concludes with a cinematic moment from the funeral: "Suddenly high in the western sky appeared one rift in the musky clouds and the end of the shaft rested for a moment on the flag-draped casket a bird in a tree overhead sang blithely." The Willises were an old New Jersey family one that earned a fortune in iron and cherished its Sons of the American Revolution membership the youngest of three sons of a mining engineer and his socially prominent Virginia wife Francis Macleod Willis was as precocious as he was prosperous The founder of Richmond's elite McGuire's University School called Willis "the most brilliant student I have ever had." the school of his father and his older brother would later earn a French Legion of Honor medal for commanding an attack transport Willis was named Lehigh's outstanding freshman wrestler in 1925 and was active in ROTC and numerous social and academic organizations he made two well-connected friends: Ryan Fort son of a New Jersey congressman and grandson of a Garden State governor; and Harry Wilbur like MacSherry a great-grandson of Lehigh's founder The 1928 yearbook describes him as having a "genial smile the daughter of a Pottsville mining engineer whose family's roots could be traced to George Washington's wife Willis carried Lehigh's flag at the head of the commencement procession Hired two weeks earlier by Philadelphia's Reading Co. he was set to start his duties on July 16 for $130 a month he and Wilbur left for the Thousand Islands where Wilbur's family owned considerable property "I am very much pleased with the islands," Willis wrote his mother "It is so so quiet here that I know I shall sleep beautifully." had recently built a new home on Reveille Island and on June 16 his son and Willis planned to move furniture there from the family's Sport Island mansion was born and lived for a time on Old Stone Farm He summered at the Thousand Islands until he was 18 "It was beautiful," MacSherry said was "a very hot day." He and an older female cousin helped load furniture onto a barge tied to the Wilburs' 27-foot motorboat Hawaiian for "Strike while the iron is hot." maybe four to five miles an hour," MacSherry remembered "I stuck an oar in the river to slow us down Lawrence was between 100 and 300 feet deep there As the frightened boy thrashed in the water "I can remember very clearly looking up to that boat," he said Managing to place MacSherry on his shoulders The two sank below the water again and Wilbur dived in after them who got the now-unconscious boy to the boat "The boy was revived after some time and with great difficulty," Willis' father wrote but the latter had by this time reached a depth beyond human rescue." Willis’ body was found half a mile down Fort and Wilbur discovered their friend's bloated body Two days later Willis was buried after a service at Parsippany (N.J.) Presbyterian Church "We thought we were following the orbit of a splendid star," his father wrote we saw a brilliant meteor flash across the sky and then disappear." Perhaps because he was 9 and had come so close to death himself MacSherry wasn't told about the gruesome discovery "I found out much later," he said After graduating from Sidwell Friends School but left in 1942 after one year to enlist in the Navy he served in the Pacific until World War II's end MacSherry established a successful trucking company and built a riverside home in Alexandria Bay It wasn't until he sold the business and retired in the 1980s that he began to reflect on Willis' courageous act MacSherry had seldom recounted the story of his rescue "Francis Willis was a hero," MacSherry said "But it wasn't until years later that I really thought I ought to do something So I started a scholarship program at Lehigh." The Francis MacLeod Willis '28 Memorial Fund was established in 1981 and its proceeds are used for various purposes MacSherry's charitable zeal has intensified timing that his daughter believes is no coincidence "He won't talk about it," said Mary MacSherry MacWade he really has become quite a philanthropist." Willis' father informed his son's friends of the tragedy He returned the boy's ROTC uniform to the Army Among its many documents are a 1930 letter notifying him of the Carnegie Hero Fund's decision to honor his son's heroism and a photo of a bronze memorial plaque crafted at Philadelphia's D'Ascenzo Studio and installed later that year in Lehigh's chapel The pentagonal memorial hangs in the chapel to this day Willis' fiancee returned his letters to his mother This man of science revealed himself as a romantic in them he wrote of a tearful farewell to fraternity brothers he would "be proud and happy to die for." and in a letter to his fiancee just weeks before he posed a question that his death — "that poignant agony," as Harry P Wilbur termed it — would leave unanswered forever: "I sometimes wonder why," Willis wrote ffitzpatrick@phillynews.com, @philafitz 2017\nMichael Johnson-Brooks stood alone at a pale wooden lectern in a La Salle University auditorium in early December dressed in a man’s uniform of mourning: dark suit A giant image of his father’s mustached face flickered in muted sepia and pewter on a projection screen behind him the La Salle and West Catholic High School basketball star and his ashes had been shepherded across the Atlantic Ocean during the week of this memorial celebration Johnson-Brooks pressed a sheet of paper against the lectern’s angled top and lowered his head into dull light leaving in full view only the upper half of his face—the intense eyes and the aquiline nose that so many people told him resembled his father’s features He kept his eyes on the two Biblical excerpts printed on that paper rather than doing what he had done throughout the ceremony’s first hour: stealing glances at the urn he had been nervous throughout the morning asking God to grant him the poise to talk about his father without his voice breaking Whatever emotions might start simmering inside him He did not know how he was supposed to act in such a moment—what’s the proper way to grieve for a man who shared with you so much of his blood and so little of his life?—but he did know that he did not want the moment to overwhelm him “That was probably the hardest thing,” he said later Sitting among the hundred people in the auditorium looking up at him and the screen with a proud and melancholy smile was the woman who called him “Michael Jr.”: his aunt Aleta Arthurs Lee and color to Johnson-Brooks’ image of his father For the final 28 years of his life—until while hospitalized and undergoing treatment for the blood disorder aplastic anemia the second of which was so massive that he never recovered from it—Brooks had lived in France and Switzerland He returned to the United States just once closing himself off for much of that time from the friends he had made in high school and college and the NBA from the Philadelphia basketball community Aleta remained Brooks’ strongest connection to his hometown She had attended award ceremonies and Hall of Fame inductions in Brooks’ place She had fielded all the questions from those who wondered what he was doing in Europe and why he had been gone for nearly three decades—questions that came with greater frequency after his death who filled the intervals between those phone calls and brief FaceTime sessions by telling Michael Jr about the big brother she hadn’t seen in person since 1998 but still loved so much devoted herself to the preservation of his good name She had given a phantom bone and flesh and hopes and regrets Brooks had occupied a unique place in Philadelphia basketball—a national player of the year who had heralded a renaissance in the Big Five and who had been held in such esteem that he was named captain of the 1980 U.S Olympic team; a native son who was at once famous and forgotten; a once-transcendent figure who had managed but he had consented to speak publicly only at Aleta’s urging as a response to an article speculating about him and his withdrawal and in the interview he had shed only so much light about himself Why had he cocooned himself from the history he had made from the teammates and coaches and competitors who had witnessed him make it from a deeper relationship with his eldest child about his past or his personality led him to that choice He had left the answers to these inquiries and his death had renewed interest in and curiosity about the story of his life Aleta was the one who knew that story best the text so common at funerals and memorials … It was better to open with something familiar though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death … It would help him gain Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever “And I have one that’s on behalf of myself,” he said but it’s something special between him and me It’s Proverbs 19:21: ‘Many are the plans in a person’s heart but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.’” he stepped quickly to the front row and sat down falling in among those who had always assumed they would meet Michael Brooks again Brooks’ friends and acquaintances still look for reasons that he cut himself off from his country and often they home in on his parents’ interracial marriage It’s a convenient armchair diagnosis to explain that which seems inexplicable—difficult childhood leads to identity crisis which leads to seclusion and comfort on another continent—but it’s incomplete Both he and Aleta said that in the roiling 1960s and ‘70s the family’s racial and ethnic composition created more tension in their Southwest Philadelphia neighborhood which was cleaved along the same lines that their household blurred Aleta heard the stories about what her mother endured while Rita was pregnant with her: blacks skeptically eyeballing her and her belly from a distance whites egging the Brookses’ porch and calling Rita a “n-- lover.” Yes Michael sometimes ran along the underground trolley tracks to avoid the slurs and confrontations it wasn’t unusual to see Rita emerging from the front door of the Brookses’ rowhome to smack Michael’s backside with a broom literally sweeping him back into the house and away from the gangs that patrolled the corners during those charged This was life for the Brooks children: Michael Any suggestion otherwise practically offended them After their parents divorced and their father moved out the three children watched their mother work her way up from teller to assistant manager at a local bank saving what she could to put them through Catholic school instilling in them the parallel beliefs that they would always look for the best in people while they lived under her roof and that they could make their own judgments and choices once they were old enough if the cruel words of outsiders cut Michael too deeply there was always that decaying hoop and backboard nailed to a light pole at the corner of 58th and Willows Avenue “I was just Michael Brooks the basketball player Brooks was the last player on the bench … for the freshman team a kid whose confidence outstripped his ability remembered Brooks arguing in the locker room one day after practice with one of the team’s better players over which of them would make it to the NBA first The debate seemed ludicrous to McDevitt at the time It was impossible not to notice his evolution he was the same Michael he’d always been chasing her around the house as if they were Looney Tunes characters then ducking back into his room when Rita woke up leaving his sister alone to suffer their mother’s wrath He had a habit of rocking his head while he slept and he’d wake up in the morning with his hair swept up in a cotton-candy-style cone then spend several minutes sculpting his Afro and “practicing his moves” in the mirror to make sure his clothes fit just so The sequence never failed to make his sisters laugh to keep them seeing him as a carefree teenager when he was becoming a man before everyone’s eyes and his entry included a nickname that hinted at his physical maturity: “Feet.” By the end of his junior season local college assistant coaches—Jim Boyle at St Bill Michuda at La Salle—had become fixtures at West Catholic practices he led the Philadelphia Catholic League in scoring and rebounding and established one of the city’s great individual basketball rivalries between him and West Philadelphia High’s Gene Banks Banks—and his recruitment—eclipsed every other high school athlete or story in Philadelphia to cover Banks and Banks alone: the man-child as reporting beat “I benefited from Gene,” Brooks once said “I could improve without pressure.” The two had competed against each other in ferocious summertime pickup games at Sherwood Playground and in the Sonny Hill and Baker Leagues but they weren’t close until Brooks showed up one afternoon at Banks’ house for a visit an overture to get to know each other better walking her through Rita’s spaghetti recipe helping her chop peppers and stir the red gravy “That’s where our friendship grew,” Banks said Banks eventually chose to play at Duke University a decision that came with tangible benefits for him a local real-estate mogul and himself a former basketball star for the Explorers bought a 1,700-square-foot twin home on the 5300 block of Chew Avenue There is no available evidence that Herdelin was acting on behalf of La Salle and no indication that anyone there knew of the transaction La Salle athletic director Bill Bradshaw said and there are no records of Herdelin’s making any financial contributions to the university Property records showed that Herdelin purchased the house for $16,000—he signed both the deed and the mortgage—and both he and Aleta confirmed his role in the family’s relocation “We did the Jeffersons thing,” Aleta said Brooks helped reinvigorate the Philadelphia college basketball scene at a time when its relevance and cachet were in decline and La Salle combined for an aggregate winning percentage of .494 The rivalries had lost their vibrancy; an infamous Daily News back-page photo captured Harry “Yo-Yo” Shifren the endearing vagabond who was the unofficial mascot of the Big Five sleeping during a sparsely attended doubleheader But the subsequent four years saw the city’s programs ascendant the Palestra once more a bubbling pot of screams Villanova posted three 23-win seasons and advanced to the 1978 NCAA tournament’s regional final Penn made its astonishing run to the 1979 Final Four Paul Westhead and Dave “Lefty” Ervin Brooks became the most dominant player in the city and one of the most thrilling in the country with long arms so corded with muscle they resembled giant licorice ropes Brooks played as if the 40 minutes of competition consumed him as if nothing else in his life mattered—a melding of abandon and earnestness he did not smile,” teammate Greg Webster said “He was almost brooding.” At practice the harder he jackhammered the ball through the basket “If we were playing Hofstra and there were five minutes left in a tight game,” said Bradshaw who in his first stint as La Salle’s athletic director at the time “Michael was going to take a lob and throw it down.” In a 108-106 triple-overtime loss to BYU at the Marriott Center in Provo including all 28 of La Salle’s points during one 16-minute stretch and even three men on him,” BYU coach Frank Arnold said afterward and around them.” At the game’s conclusion the 22,791 spectators gave Brooks a standing ovation Touched by the gesture and exhausted after having played all 55 minutes His ferocity on the court struck a stark contrast with his affability and accessibility off it “He had a great sense of humor,” said Dave Davis a freshman guard for La Salle when Brooks was a senior I never remember him getting angry for any reason.” Filling out a publicity questionnaire upon entering La Salle watching girls,” and his post-college goals as “pro basketball own(ing) a chain of hotels.” He finished his La Salle career with 2,628 points—he remains among the NCAA’s top 30 scorers—won the Kodak National Player of the Year award after averaging 24.1 points and 11.5 rebounds as a senior “the most visible and charismatic figure on campus.” When Aleta’s friends happened to encounter her brother on the street knowing that all those hours Michael had spent in front of the mirror Aleta and her family were just beginning to get a greater he starred for the United States’ gold-medal team at the Pan-American Games in San Juan so impressing coach Bob Knight that Knight reaffirmed in an interview last year what he said of Brooks then: that he was “one of the five best kids I ever coached.” In an essay in the Aug edition of The Catholic Standard and Times RiRi described the family room in the Brookses’ Chew Avenue home: “We have a handsome portrait of Michael We have named it ‘The Shrine.’” But his performance in Puerto Rico and Knight’s subsequent praise had elevated his profile well beyond the boundaries of the local press comparing him to another La Salle legend: Tom Gola In May—less than three weeks before the San Diego Clippers selected Brooks with the ninth pick in the NBA draft—Dave Gavitt announced that Brooks would be the team’s captain The likelihood that President Jimmy Carter would have the U.S to protest the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan had dissuaded other well-known college players from trying out but Brooks was enthusiastic about the prospect of representing his country He felt a sense of relief and happiness upon making the team and had been honored that Gavitt had thought enough of him to invite him to the Olympic trials “The least I could do,” he said Brooks was one of just two seniors Gavitt kept on the roster; Notre Dame’s Bill Hanzlik was the other the team played a six-game “Gold Medal” series against five NBA all-star teams and the 1976 U.S a barnstorming-style tour that started in Los Angeles and ended in Greensboro with Brooks leading them in scoring at 13.2 points a game with Aleta donning a gleaming red-white-and-blue sweat suit for the series’ two games at Madison Square Garden and savoring the spectacle almost as much as her brother did in an attempt to appease the athletes in the wake of boycott presenting them with Congressional Gold Medals and putting them up in a posh hotel with an outdoor swimming pool at its center “Guys were having a pretty good time and these female weightlifters and gymnasts and volleyball players were in the pool with the guys,” Hanzlik said ‘You guys have to quiet down.’ I was not involved but I do remember Michael being in the pool.” This was the life that Brooks grew accustomed to he involved his family members in it as much as possible He would take his mother and sisters out to a late-night dinner at a Morton’s marvel over the lavish spread of his relatives and friends socializing together I am not having ribeye at 11 o’clock at night and when Aleta visited with her daughter Kristin Brooks frequently took the baby out for an afternoon drive “She was his chick magnet,” Aleta said “and he just fell in love with her.” Once the Brookses joined one of Michael’s teammates and idols for a day with their families at the San Diego Zoo Strapped into the carriage was the youngest of Joe and Pamela Bryant’s three children Over his first three seasons with the Clippers Brooks played in all 246 of the team’s games earning his coaches’ and peers’ respect with his work ethic ran for conditioning,” former Clippers guard and NBA coach Lionel Hollins said He wanted to be out there.” One day after the 1982-83 season when the two players were scheduled to become restricted free agents Hollins called Brooks to recommend a negotiating ploy: Both of them had to consider holding out into the following season If Brooks re-signed for less than market value Hollins feared that the Clippers would try to low-ball him But Brooks’ consecutive-games streak meant so much to him that he refused to go along with the strategy and agreed to a new contract with the Clippers anyway “I wasn’t going to stop him,” Hollins said “from doing what he wanted to do.” he was not the superstar he had been at La Salle the higher level of competition exposing weaknesses in his game for which his diligence and natural talent could no longer compensate and he didn’t shoot well enough from the outside to excel as a pure small forward But there was no doubt that Brooks was a solid professional coachable—“He was a delight,” said Jim Lynam a West Catholic alumnus and the Clippers’ head coach from 1983 to 1985—and that he was on track for a long NBA career in a game at Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland Brooks stole the ball from the Cavaliers’ Paul Thompson he felt the sensation of walking down a flight of stairs and missing one He fell to the floor and grabbed his right knee “It was like he got shot,” Lynam said Boom.” He had torn his anterior cruciate ligament—an injury that without the more-advanced treatment available to athletes today Inducted into the Big Five Hall of Fame in 1986 but he neither used their training facilities nor showed up at any of their games choosing to carry out his post-surgery rehabilitation near San Diego you think you’re invincible,” he said last year “Everything is basically there for you if you don’t have a good support group you can really fall into a hole quickly because you feel ‘Where are all these people who were here when everything was going right?’ As soon as you get hurt gripped her holy card every morning and prayed that he would walk normally again The assistance that Aleta lent him was more hands-on; she moved to San Diego to be his caretaker “He was trying to get back to where he was with an injury that most people didn’t even come back from,” she said “Michael was a guy who believed you don’t let your slip show Nobody’s going to know he’s struggling with something and I’ll be back.’ What happens in that middle is none of anyone else’s business.” for the Clippers’ coaches and front-office members in the gym at Cal-Poly Pomona He began to hyperventilate as he carried out the drills He spent brief stints with the Indiana Pacers and Denver Nuggets was named the Continental Basketball Association’s most valuable player in 1987-88 while with the Albany Patroons joining the Philadelphia Aces of the United States Basketball League Brooks played his final basketball game in Philadelphia at St scoring 38 points in the Aces’ 122-118 loss to the New Haven Skyhawks in the semifinals of the USBL playoffs he met his old West Catholic classmate and teammate Bill McDevitt for beers at a pub near campus; the two had stayed in touch since their freshman year the Charlotte Hornets had selected Brooks with the 14th overall pick in the NBA expansion draft but they had angered him by making a more lucrative contract offer to former Lakers forward Kurt Rambis in turn had offered Brooks a one-year deal worth a reported $170,000 “I never heard from him again after that night,” McDevitt said a baby boy was born at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania: 7 pounds His mother’s name was Jacklynn Johnson at the intersection of West Sedgwick Street and Germantown Avenue A flock of kids in T-shirts and mesh tank tops and shorts Already there was a presumption that he was the chosen one in the crowd that basketball had been woven into the double helix at the center of every cell in his body He played that day because he liked the sport and he sensed that the kids and the counselors had expectations for him and that he did not meet them and it hit him like a thunderbolt: I don’t want to do this Only later could he articulate the realization that charged his mind and heart at that moment: Basketball defined my father His parents had met when Brooks was playing in the Sonny Hill and Baker Leagues and they dated on and off while they were at La Salle together and again after college and even though Brooks knew he was to be a father before he left to play overseas his relationship with his first-born the greatest casualty of his choice “That move is what detached them completely,” Aleta said “It really is—Michael not being in the United States and not being accessible to as many people as he should have been.” helping Limoges win two Pro A championships moving on to play in Levallois and Strasbourg getting married and divorced and having four more children his oldest son grew up asking himself that question every son whose his father isn’t home asks himself: Is it my fault he’s not here Jacklynn balanced her parental duties between providing for Michael Jr opening an accounting practice and insisting that he focus on his studies first “She’s very stern,” he said Though Brooks was not involved in Michael Jr.’s early life Jacklynn made sure that two male role models were: his grandfather who died when Johnson-Brooks was 12; and his uncle Bill Johnson was mindful at all times that neither of them was his father Neither of them possessed veto power over his actions the authority to discipline him when he would talk back to his mother or mess up at school or do any of the silly things that a kid does he never got a concrete explanation for why Brooks wasn’t around have let him know that at least his father was thinking of him “I probably would have felt better if I knew my dad wanted to hop on a plane and come see me if my dad was going to bat for his son—you know what I mean my mom can have all the control she wants to Brooks said last year that he had found a new life in Europe with his fiancée He lived on the western edge of Switzerland in Etoy a village of lush vineyards and Modern architecture 30 miles north of Geneva a men’s team in the country’s First League Blonay won the league championship last year and Brooks—weakened by the aplastic anemia pocks dotting his legs and the inside of his mouth—rose out of a hospital bed each morning to drive three hours to coach the team in the semifinals “He was full of passion for the game,” said Yuval Keren who befriended Brooks while he was coaching Blonay “He created the motivation for the players and gave them confidence to take chances “There are always going to be memories,” Brooks said the clean start that Europe had afforded him in search of a culture and an environment that suited him and he acknowledged that people might resent him for letting them fade from his journey “you have to do that.” This was his choice so many friends: Amid the seclusion of a Swiss countryside and his contentment there it was as if they had never happened or no longer existed \n\n“Regrets are for losers,” Brooks said Do you have any regrets about your relationship with him this is a situation where we never really decided if he was or not,” he said “I would prefer not to speak about that.” He had never had a doubt about his father’s identity—no one had—and he knew Brooks had known the truth One night while he was a student at Montgomery County Community College sat down at his computer and said to himself he found Brooks’ home number and dialed slurred male voice on the line made it clear that forgetting about the difference in time zones had probably woken his father from a deep sleep Aleta had kept baby pictures of Michael Jr where Aleta manages meetings and special programs for the university’s library system and Aleta ushered him right up to her office and let the two Michaels talk to each other for the first time in their lives “It was his way of avoiding something that he couldn’t talk about because he didn’t know enough,” she said He didn’t know this young man enough to even have a conversation about him “He felt like the NBA let him down a little bit And you have to understand Michael as a person: very laid-back He liked the fact that European people were just chill like that Their way of life worked for who he was as a person and you have to remember he started a family there in addition to his child here I don’t think it’s that Michael just didn’t want to come back It’s that he didn’t really see any need for it at the time he returned to the United States just once never set foot inside West Catholic or the Palestra or on La Salle’s campus and never returned to the United States again Even after doctors had diagnosed his aplastic anemia Brooks had five years to deepen his relationship with Michael Jr. cognizant that his situation might turn dire that his body would stop producing blood cells that he would be vulnerable to infections and other trauma that he might need a bone-marrow transplant Yet he never really closed the physical or emotional distance between them It was just another contradiction that Michael Jr. he realized that he couldn’t be the reason that Brooks had left and stayed away he forgave his father for his absenteeism: “I just wanted to release myself of that burden that gets rid of the animosity I had toward him It makes it easier so that when I think about him even though I didn’t even know him.” Aleta talked with Brooks and Uberti about having them fly over to visit To hear him talk about his condition was to assume his full recovery was a formality even though he had been undergoing chemotherapy and receiving transfusions and platelets as if they were nothing more strenuous than a few basketball practices when he was in his prime there seemed reason to be optimistic: He entered the hospital to receive a bone-marrow transplant remembering that Aleta’s 50th birthday was coming up on the 22nd he called her after completing four days of chemo and teased her about her age When they returned to their home in Wissahickon Hills Aleta phoned Jacqueline Uberti for an update on Brooks This is how Aleta remembered their conversation: What do you mean there’s no hope?” let me say happy birthday because he would want me to tell you that.” “Why can’t he tell me this?’ They don’t think he’s going to make it.” Brooks’ body had rejected the transplant Chris picked her up and put the phone back to her ear to tell him—“I couldn’t believe it,” he said—then called Uberti back at 5 p.m Uberti put her phone to Brooks’ ear and told Aleta to talk to him “I told him I loved him,” she said “and I told him I’m sorry and I don’t want to say goodbye to him and this wasn’t supposed to happen but he shouldn’t be in pain anymore But his sister didn’t believe he felt that way at the end because of a conversation they had not long before he died His doctors were still searching for a bone-marrow donor for him and if they could find one within his family it would increase the likelihood that the transplant would be successful Aleta told him that she had discussed this possibility with Michael Jr. from the lectern in that La Salle auditorium they had shared their remembrances of Michael Brooks—Gene Banks and Bill Bradshaw and Greg Webster and more “It gave me a chance to see he was a good man,” he said It was good to hear people reflect on him because it kind of gave me memories of him that I didn’t even have.” The urn did not contain all of Brooks’ ashes It took weeks for Aleta to finalize arrangements to have some of them shipped to her on a one-stop flight from Geneva to Philadelphia “I’m my brother’s keeper,” Aleta said Her daughter Alexis accompanied her to the customs area of Philadelphia International Airport on the day the ashes arrived and now there was just this … cube … that anyone could carry She keeps the urn on a table on the second-floor landing of her home the one-year anniversary of his father’s death He works full-time in the recording industry but he has an idea to form a summer basketball league geared toward middle-school and high-school students who perform well academically “It’s in my blood.” Through email and social media he keeps in contact with his siblings in France he noticed on Instagram that Jasper would be traveling to New York and the two of them met for dinner at Gallagher’s Steakhouse in Midtown Manhattan It was the first time he had been in the same room with his brother “was the true essence of who my brother was.” Suddenly there on the screen behind her was Michael Brooks sitting at a rich brown table in a white-walled room six-second video that Brooks’ friend Yuval Keren had recorded in January 2016 his face coated by a salt-and-pepper beard One of them holds a pen in front of Brooks’ mouth “Do you have anything else to say to your family or any of the people watching you over in the States at home as if he has stepped on stage and a spotlight has found him He opens his arms with a flourish and recites the narration that begins “Have You Seen Her,” the 1971 hit by the Chi-Lites about a man who has lost the woman he loved the people with Michael Brooks clap in time with the beat as Aleta snapped her fingers and swayed her hips leaned forward and listened to the only voice in the room Reporter: Mike Sielski\nEditor: Jim Swan\nVisuals editor: Frank Wiese\nProduction and design: Garland Potts and Ellen Dunkel\nGraphics: John Duchneskie\nPhotography: Jessica Griffin and Michael Bryant 2021 marks the 70th anniversary of the canonization of Saint Mary Domenica Mazzarello Co-founder of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians (1951-2021) Rome (Italy). June 24, 2021 marks the 70th anniversary of the canonization of Mary Domenica Mazzarello Co-founder with Don Bosco of the Institute of the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians proclaimed a Saint by Pope Pius XII on 24 June 1951 Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome in the meeting with the FMA Community of the Generalate in Rome (RCG) presenting the process of the Canonization of Mother Mazzarello in view of the 70th Anniversary highlighted “The Holiness of Mother Mazzarello was a sign of great blessing for the whole FMA Institute and for the Church but also a call to strive ‘for the high standard of ordinary Christian life’” (Cf In giving the news to the FMA Institute about a month earlier on behalf of the Superior General of the FMA Institute speak to everyone about this joy of our religious family spread the news to all classes of people” (Circular of 4-5-1951) Mother Linda Lucotti with the General Council and the Middle East; 3,000 FMA among Animators and Past Pupils of the FMA and the Salesians of Don Bosco and pilgrims from all over the world; and the two miracles through the intercession of Mother Mazzarello for Sister Maggiorina Avalle opens the papal procession with the Supreme Pontiff Pius XII accompanied by the college of Cardinals Archbishops head to the Altar of Confession On the pediment of the external Loggia of the Basilica there is the tapestry with the two Saint educators canonized on that day: Mary Mazzarello and Emilia de Vialar Foundress of the Institute of the Sisters of St indispensable for starting the Canonization Process There was trust in her intercession and the FMA felt they had had a Holy Superior There are two main stages of the Process regarding the collection and examination of documentation: the Diocesan Information Process set up by the Diocese in which the person dies with a reputation for holiness called by the Sacred Congregation of Rites Between the two processes is the Decree for the introduction of the Cause (27 May  1925) which is followed by a discussion on the virtues (Decree of Venerability) and on the miracles (Decree of Beatification and Canonization) The Diocesan Information Process began in the Curia of Acqui Terme (AL) on 23 June 1911 Ferdinando Maccono was chosen as Vice-Postulator of the Cause and literary ability to make Mother known and loved was appointed as Relator of the Cause (ponente) a very significant figure due to his long familiarity with Sister Mary Mazzarello Between 1918 and 1924 the Process on the writings of Sister Mary Mazzarello was carried out In the letters collected and authenticated by the Curia of Acqui one of the theologians highlights the ‘singular care’ for the formation of her sisters received as boarders in the School of Mornese or as postulants including some past pupils from the workroom; some Daughters of the Immaculate Conception; lay people including cousins Giuseppe and Domenico Mazzarello; three Salesians One of the most significant witnesses was Sister Petronilla Mazzarello the friend with whom Mother Mazzarello shared the project for the education of girls and the gradual establishment and consolidation of the FMA Institute In 1923 the Litterae Postulatoriae were collected in which it asked that Sister Mary Mazzarello be raised to the honors of the altars In 1929 in Nizza was the recognition of the body in the presence of doctors and competent people on the question of the title of ‘Co-founder’ attributed by the Church to Mother Mazzarello the decisive phase of the Process was entered: the evaluation of the heroic nature of the virtues and confirmation with miracles Two miracles were presented: the first occurred in 1916 with the healing of the little girl Ercolina Mazzarello who suffered from acute spinal paralysis in both legs due to polio with the healing of the twelve-year-old Rosa Bellavita from Paullo (Milan) suffering from ascitic tuberculous peritonitis unexplained from a scientific point of view there was the reading of the Decree of the heroic virtues (Venerability) the foundation for a process of beatification Her remains were brought from Nizza Monferrato (AT) to Turin provisionally placed in the Chapel of the relics waiting to be placed in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians attended by the two young women who were miraculously cured: Ercolina Mazzarello Pope Pius XI was offered a reliquary with the vertebra of Mother Mazzarello and he commented: “Mazzarello Tell the sisters they too must have a good backbone” The Process in view of the Canonization resumed in 1941 The cult of Blessed Mary Domenica Mazzarello bore this popular imprint: “It is the people who go to her; they feel she is a Saint who understands helps with predilection the people of her condition,” wrote the Bishop of Asti the decree for the approval of miracles was read: Sister Maggiorina Avalle recovered instantly in Roppolo Castello (Biella) when the doctors said that she had only a few hours left to live; and Carla Ramponi from Castano Primo (Milan) after an FMA had placed under the head of the child who seemed dead Mary Domenica Mazzarello was proposed for the cult of the Universal Church The Bull of Canonization ends with an exhortation addressed to everyone especially the FMA of whom Mother Mazzarello was the first Superior: “May they learn from her the only true science consists in making ourselves saints” Celebrating a Canonization Anniversary means keeping alive the memory of the events of grace and the bonds of communion; it is to continue “to recognize that we are surrounded by a multitude of witnesses who urge us not to stop along the way stimulate us to continue walking towards the goal” (Pope Francis Cara Maria Domenica Mazzarello non ti dimenticherò mai sei la persona più bella e più santa di tutti i santi Manda il tuo spirito alle ragazze e falle diventare buone suore per riaprire il nostro amato Carmine F.M.A and website in this browser for the next time I comment Δdocument.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value" This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 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The supply chain is joining forces to tackle the market with a strategic approach Milan) has announced the acquisition of a majority stake in Conceria Guerino (Robecchetto con Induno The goal is to strengthen its role as a key supplier to high-end luxury fashion brands Both Lombard companies have deep-rooted histories and family-driven legacies The first was founded in 1944 by Francesco Ramponi while the second was established in 1961 by Guerino Foieni is now materializing through synergies that will drive commercial growth and diversification of target sectors both companies have specialized in the footwear industry Conceria Guerino is renowned for its ovine and caprine leather used for shoe linings while Conceria Stefania has made a name for itself in the luxury market with premium-quality leather for uppers One of the key objectives of this acquisition is to expand the product offering into leather goods launching a dedicated production line developed in synergy by the two companies This initiative is part of a broader growth strategy by Conceria Stefania “The company plans significant investments in research and development and technological innovation to ensure excellence and strengthen its presence in international markets,” the company stated Among the key investments is the implementation of next-generation machinery in both tanneries “This acquisition is a strategic step to broaden our product range and solidify our position as a leading supplier in the luxury leather sector,” said representatives from Conceria Stefania the two companies will combine their expertise to offer increasingly innovative and high-quality solutions to their clients This acquisition represents an extraordinary opportunity for shared growth at a particularly challenging time for the luxury market.” Inserisci localitàchiudi Gestisci il tuo profilo utentee iscriviti a nuove newsletter Registrati oppure effettua il log in Connetti il tuo profilo di Facebook con Corriere.it primo discorso da leader della Lega�L’euro � un crimine contro l’umanit� Il nuovo segretario: �Insieme contro il boia di Bruxelles �E ai giornalisti: �Parassiti Matteo Salvini � il nuovo segretario della Lega Nord il congresso federale del Carroccio riunito a Torino per alzata di mano Scambio di accuse tra organizzatori dello show di Peter Gabriel e amministrazione comunale