Growing family ties

Michael Ricci has devoted his life to caring for his family and trying to help his community. In order to preserve the memories and history of his family, he compiled research from letters, newspapers, family documents and family stories told by relatives into a published family history in 2001.

But the recording of his family's history did not end there.

“When I was growing up,” Ricci said, “my mother frequently related curious events that occurred in her family. My mother passed away last July, at the age of 96, and among her belongings were some old pictures. One was of a woman I didn't know, but she looked just like my grandmother. Turned out she was my great-grandmother.”