Angelo Gaspardone and Agnes Burns

Agnes Burns and Angelo Gaspardone

Angelo (Andy) Felice Gaspardone was born on June 5, 1900 in Corsione, Asti, Piemonte, Italy.  He was the second son of Luigi Gaspardone and Maria Bevilacqua. At age 35, Luigi came to Kelowna, BC, in 1904, to work for his wife’s cousin, Giovanni Casorzo.  Maria followed in 1907 with sons Camillo, born 1899, and Angelo, born 1900.  Angelo had another brother, Giuseppe (Joe), born 1910 and a sister, Rosa, born 1914.  Both were born in Canada.

Angelo grew up in the Okanagan and worked on a ranch. Later, he got a job working on the rail barges and tugboats, travelling up and down Okanagan Lake to Penticton, BC and back.  He met and married his wife, Agnes Burns, in Penticton.  Agnes, born in 1905, was from Newmaines, Scotland.  They were married August 15, 1929, in St Annes Catholic Church in Penticton.  They moved to Kelowna, where Andy worked as a scaler for the Simpson Sawmill.  He continued working for them when it was bought out by Crown Zellerbach.  Andy retired after thirty-six years of employment at the mill.  Agnes worked at the Kelowna Grower’s Exchange Packing house for thirty-five years.

Andy’s hobbies included splicing cable for loggers, gardening and growing grapes, to make some home made wine. As time went by Andy and Agnes’s social life consisted of following hockey games, league bowling and playing Bingo. They have four daughters:  Shirley Bach, Eileen Blanleil (deceased), Helen Fearon and Joan (Blair) Pyett. They have many grandchildren and great grandchildren.  Angelo passed away November, 1978 and Agnes in August, 1987.  They are buried in the Kelowna Memorial Garden.
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Shirley Bach, Helen Fearon and Joan Pyett, daughters.