Theresa Porco and Phillip Pugliese

Theresa Porco and Phillip Pugliese

Michele Porco and Maria Manza, from Figline, Florence, Tuscany, Italy, had three children that all came to the Fernie area.  Francesco (Frank) Porco arrived in 1910, Theresa in 1911 and Salvatore (Sam) in 1921.  The 1921 Census for the mining town of Michel, BC, showed Theresa married Filippo (Phillip) Pugliese.  Salvatore and Francesco Porco are listed as lodgers with Theresa and Phillip.

Theresa and Phillip had eight children: Stella, Emma, Jennie, Gus, Paul, Lilly, Liz and Joseph.  Theresa ran the boarding house.  Phillip was a pump-man at the local mine.  Most of the children came to Kelowna in the early 1950s.  They, or their spouses, are well known in Kelowna community.  Names such as Ungaro (realty), Cozzetto (Kelowna Canadian Italian Club) and Pugliese (Pug’s Taxi), all have family connections to the Theresa Porco family.  Theresa came to Kelowna, following Phillip’s passing in Michel.  She passed away in Kelowna in 1950.

Salvatore Porco married Antonietta Marion Vecchio in 1926. Antonietta was born in Fernie in 1910. They moved to Kelowna in the 50s.   They had two children: Gino Luigi and Carlo Ernest.  Gino worked at the Crawford Sawmill.  He died in 1962 in a mill accident.  Carlo married Irene Elizabeth Schaefer.  Carlo and Irene worked with Sam in operating Porco’s Pool Hall and Coffee Shop on Ellis Street.  Salvatore passed away in 1966 and Antonietta in 1987.

Francesco Porco, born in 1893, was a firemen at the Elk River Colliery #9 mine in Fernie, BC.