Luigi and Lucia Bazzana

Top: Rosalia, Gino, Cestilia, Arturo, Antonia | Middle L: Valentino, Nonno Luigi, Giovachino, Nonna Lucia, Angelo. Front: Giovanni

Gino Bazzana came to Kelowna in 1924.  His brother Giovanni came in 1926 with Gino’s wife.  She was married to Gino by proxy.  In 1929 Giovanni died in an accident at the sawmill in Gallagher’s canyon.  Gino and Olivia had one baby girl, Gertie, but she did not live very long.  They worked at many jobs in Kelowna including farming, fruit and tobacco growing, and the sawmill.  They were also very involved with the building and maintenance of the church nunnery and the Okanagan Neurological Association.

Cestilia Bazzana also came to Canada in the early 1920s, after Gino and Giovanni were here.  She met Mattia Culos and were married.  Together they had five children: Antonia, Rino, Luigi, Gertie and Lina.

Brothers Giovanni and Celeste came to Canada in 1950 and 1953.  They were sons of Valentino and Santina, the parents did not come to Canada to stay, only for visit in 1970.  Giovanni was born in 1930, left Italy in 1950 to work in Alberta in a coal mine.  He moved to Kelowna, BC, shortly after but work was not easy to find, so he went to Calgary, Alberta, to a good job in construction.  Giovanni was married to Rosie Romanzin.  Together they had three girls: Patricia, Angela and Jenna.  Celeste was born in 1935 and came to Alberta in 1953,  He moved to Kelowna in the spring of 1954.  Celeste found work in a machine shop and worked as a machinist for the next 45 years.  Married to Jean Schneider and had three sons: Dale, Kevin and Gordon.

Brother Luigi, and sister Teresina Scodelaro, came to Kelowna in the fifties after spending some time in Prince Rupert, BC.  Luigi, with wife Gina, worked for The Canadian National Railway, The fisheries, the plywood plant and the packing house until their retirement.  They had one boy, Jerry, and two girls Mary and Nives.  They were both founding members of the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club.  Arturo, and wife Desolina, came to Kelowna in the seventies.  Arturo for a distillery and did many other jobs in the area.  They have two girls.

Sister Teresina and Adelchi Scodelaro.  He was a carpenter and worked many years in construction to build the Capri Hotel and part of the mall.  Teresina worked in the fruit and vegetable industry picking grapes for the wineries.  One sister, Lucia, immigrated to Argentina.
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Celeste Bazzana