Albert Vecchio and Ida Russo

Al and Ida Vecchio

Michele and Giuseppina Vecchio were the first members of the Vecchio family to immigrate to Canada. They arrived in Fernie, BC, with their children, Battista and Mariantonia “Antonetta,” in 1920. Michele was a boiler room employee of the Crow’s Nest Pass Coal mine. He and Giuseppina moved to Winfield, BC, upon his retirement in 1949.

Their third child, Albert, was born in Fernie in 1922. Albert worked in the Crow’s Nest Company coal mines before following his sister, Antonetta, to Kelowna, BC. His first job in Kelowna was working for “Cap” Capozzi in his grocery store.

Ida was born in 1924, in Cleto, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. She was the daughter of Giovanni Russo and Genoveffa Pucci. Ida immigrated to Canada in 1938, helping her father homestead in Golden, BC. She and her sister, Elsie, who later married Valentino Rampone, cut logs into railroad ties for the CPR. In 1946, they moved to Winfield, BC, with her family and worked in the packinghouse. Ida married Albert Vecchio in 1948.

In 1947, Al built “Al’s Café” in Winfield. It was also the Greyhound bus stop, a popular truck stop, convenience store, and it had a billiards room on the bottom floor. Al built living quarters at the rear of the café. Their first daughter, Josephine (Joey), was born in 1957 and they all lived there until 1960, when Al and Ida built their family home in Rutland. A second daughter, Julie, arrived in 1961.

Al Vecchio was always involved in his community. He was director of the Winfield Chamber of Commerce, a member of the Independent Order of Foresters and the Winfield Volunteer Fire Department.

In 1975, Al and Ida sold the café and focused on land development and building rental units in the Rutland community.

After a short retirement, they built a commercial building and operated Café Bella Bimba from 1981 to 1989. Finally retired from the kitchen, Albert and Ida enjoyed their hobbies of bocce, curling, and travelling by motor home every year to California and Mexico.

Albert and Ida were actively involved in the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club. Albert served as its president from 1978 - 1980 and was instrumental in opening the bocce courts at Kelowna’s Parkinson Recreational Centre.

Ida was very proud of her Italian heritage and was an organizer and teacher of the Italian language school, director of the Italian dancers and organized the club's participation in many cultural events such as the Christmas Mosaic and Kelowna’s Folkfest.

Al passed away in 2006, following Ida's passing in 1999. They are both laid to rest at the Lakeview mausoleum in Kelowna.

Adapted from a 2020 Courier article written Joey Vecchio, daughter.