Middletown Man Turns 101 Years Young

Editor's Note: The following story was submitted by Susan Pompa, the daughter of John Cagliari of Middletown. Cagliari will turn 101 years old next week.

Over 100 years of life has only sharpened John Cagliari's bright and exuberant presence.

John, now 101, was born in Salerno, Italy on July 21, 1911 to Sophia Cagliari, a hairdresser. He grew up financially poor but rich in love and support, which taught him about his own strength and ability to accomplish goals.

Things were hard in Europe in those times and at the urging of Sophia's friends living in New York, she picked up roots and made the voyage with John to the United States on the Ship Conte Rosso in 1923.

The passage was very difficult, since they travelled in steerage. However, it was also exciting because it marked a new beginning for his mother and her young, soon-to-be 12-year-old.

Very soon after immigrating, they found things a bit more difficult than they expected they would be in the New Country. Since neither spoke English, they had to depend on friends and kind acquaintances to get along in this new world. John was bright and his teachers really made an effort to help him to adjust and learn English, which, aside from getting a job, was of primary importance.

John quickly found a job as an errand boy and cleaned bathrooms for $8.00 a week for a 48-hour work week. (No child labor laws back then.) Sophia remarried and John found himself no longer an only child but a member of a much larger family. He now had two brothers and two sisters, whom he did not know but grew to love as his own siblings.

John had aspirations of going to college and becoming a lawyer after finishing Stuyvesant High School in 1927, however work came first now that he was the oldest child in a family with plenty of mouths to feed. He continued to work at Artistic Studios, a lamp factory where he had been working for some time.

By 1933, John became the head shipping clerk at the factory and then, in 1937, he became the office manager. He learned how to run a business and his next two life choices shocked everyone. He met and fell in love with Elizabeth 'Bea' Mossay, a non-Italian. Shortly after their wedding, John was making plans for something even more surprising.

In 1948, John turned around and bought Artistic Studios where he had worked as an errand boy when first arriving in America. He re-named it Colony Studios and officially became the owner of a company.

Life goes on and over the years he and Bea had three daughters, all of whom married and had children and now John has five grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.

Bea passed away in 1987; leaving John torn but not defeated. After mourning Bea, he reached out to their longtime friend Minnie. John had known Minnie from before he married Bea. Bea and Minnie were great friends, so much so that Minnie was in the wedding party when John and Bea were married.

John and Minnie spent many happy years together as close companions, and Minnie became part of the Calgiari family in every sense of the word. Sadly, in 2007, Minnie passed away and although she is gone, she is not forgotten.

Today, John lives in an assisted facility in Middletown with all of his wits, stories and family around him.

We are proud of him and what he has done. We all love him and can truly say that his life is a real American story.