John and Carolyn Reorda

John and Carolyn Reorda

 ​Giovanni (John Joseph) Reorda was born on September 25, 1881 in Agliè, Torino, Piemonte, Italy to parents Joseph Reorda and Theresa Bioletto.  On March 6, 1909, at age 28, he boarded the ship, La Provence, and departed Le Havre, France bound for New York.  John’s occupation is listed as miner.  His nephew, Massimo Micheletto, left for the U.S. in 1905 and went to Clealum, Washington, where Giovanni joined him.  In 1912, he travelled by The Great Northern Railway, from Washington State to Grand Forks, with Midway listed as his final destination.   John tried working at a mine in Phoenix but soon quit and began working on the Kettle Valley Railroad.  He later gave this up and got a job with Giovanni Casorso, pitching hay.  

On January 1, 1916, John enlisted with the Canadian army.  His residence was listed as Revelstoke, where he was farming.  By October 25, 1916 he left Canada, headed for England.  On December 5, 1916 he was readied for service with the 29th and later the 54th Canadian Expeditionary Forces in France.  On March 1, 1917, at Vimy Ridge he received a gun shot wound to his ankle. He was hospitalized in England and discharged on March 22, 1919.

Back in Kelowna, John married Carolyn Maria Ryder on November 11, 1920.  Carolyn was the daughter of Samuel Bagshaw Ryder and Maria Lydia Emerson from London.  John and Carolyn raised six children in Kelowna: Jack, born 1921, Roy, born 1922, Elsie, born 1924, Mildred, born 1926, Dorothy, born 1927 and Roland, born 1939.

In 1921 John started working for the city of Kelowna.  He spent six years with the waterworks department, and the remaining twenty-five years in the powerhouse.  He never owned a car, but used a bicycle for transportation.  John passed away while in a Vancouver hospital at age 77 and Carolyn passed away in Kelowna at the age of 92.