Pietro Calissi and Erika Petzold

Pietro and Erika

Pietro Calissi was born January 1, 1934 in Bagni di Lucca, Tuscany to Ciro Calissi and Maria Ada Rossi, in a family of eight children. He grew up in Castelnuovo di Garfagnana in the province of Lucca. He would have liked to stay in school, but due to difficult conditions after the war, he moved in with the Enrico Ancillotti family and apprenticed as a butcher and sausage maker. Pietro knew the Turri and Andreucci families, from Castelnuovo, who were already in the Okanagan.  So, for a couple of years he started to save up some money and learn English.

In March, 1957, at twenty-three years of age, he immigrated to America. He travelled on the Cristoforo Colombo ship to New York, and then by train to Kelowna, British Columbia. He was sponsored by his brother Alfredo.  Pietro’s plan was to return to Tuscany to run the Ancillotti butcher shop, but then he met my mom.

Erika was born to Henry Petzold and Berta Demmer in the state of Steiermark, Austria, in 1939.  Her family came to Ontario in 1950, when Erika was thirteen. They moved to Kelowna in 1959. Henry worked for the Heinz Koetz Family, on the Black Mountain Potato Farm. It was here that Pietro and Erika met.  They were married soon after.  Pietro worked at Pioneer Meats and Finn’s Meats in Rutland for fourteen years, making sausage and curing meats.

In 1965, Pietro and Erika purchased a ten acre property on Paynter Road in Westbank, BC.  They planted one of the first vineyards in the area. They thought the family farm would be a good environment to raise their family and for the children to learn a trade.  Pierre was born in 1960,   Bianca in 1962 and  Marino in 1967.

Pietro, and son Pierre, purchased thirty-two acres of land in South East Kelowna in 1978.   For thirty years they grew apples, pears, sour cherries and grapes.

Pietro was one of the founding members of the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club. His family enjoyed many events at the club, especially as the kids were growing up and into their teen years.

Sadly, Pierre passed away suddenly, in 2018, at age fifty-seven and Erika passed in 2020. They are laid to rest at the Westbank Cemetery.
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Bianca Calissi