John Venera Interview

John Venera Interview

Interviewees

John Venera

Document Type

Book

Interviewer

Krueger, Frederick

Contributor

Suncadia (Resort), Suncadia Fund for Community Enhancement

Files

Download John Venera interview outline.pdf (601 KB)

Description

John Vernera (b. January 14, 1916, in Roslyn, Washington) speaks about his father, Battista Venera, and his immigration from Italy to Roslyn, circa 1909. Venera's father entered the dairy business in 1918 and operated Maple Dairy, 1934-1943. Venera worked for his father at the dairy and then in the Northwestern Improvement Company (NWI) Nos. 5 and 9 Mines. He describes mining equipment, procedures, relationships to other mines, and “close call” experiences in the mines. He also describes the life of an immigrant family, including education, recreation, ethnic traditions, food/recipes, festivals, holidays, music, bocce ball, and lodges such as Druidessa, Moose, Finn, Swede, and Odd Fellows Halls.

The cover image shows recent Italian immigrants holding wooden bocce balls on a bocce court behind Torino Tavern in Cle Elum, 1900. Bocce--an Italian lawn bowling game--was a favorite pastime for decades in Kittitas County. Pictured here are Deonegis (father and son).

Publication Date

11-3-2004

Approximate Date

prior to 1918

Subject

Oral history, Immigrants--United States--History, Roslyn (Wash.), Northwestern Improvement Company, Coal mining

Rights

Educational use only; no other permissions given. Copyright to this resource is held by the content creator, author, artist or other entity, and is provided here for educational purposes only. It may not be reproduced or distributed in any format without written permission of the copyright owner.

Language

English

John Venera Interview

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