Valentino Rampone and Elsie Russo

Valentino Rampone was born in Kelowna General Hospital on March 27, 1922.  He was the first child born to Domenico and Giuseppina Rampone, and was the third generation of the Rampone family to live in Kelowna, BC.  He was very proud of his heritage, the history of Kelowna, and the people who emigrated from the different countries around the world.

In 1942, my father joined the Royal Canadian Engineers (Canadian Army). He was discharged in 1945 and returned home to Kelowna.  He learned the trade of a draftsman, and in the late 1940s and early 1950s, he designed and built a number of homes around the Kelowna General Hospital area.

In 1947, Val married a young Italian girl who arrived in Kelowna via Golden, BC.  Her name was Erza (Elsie) Russo, and her family came from southern Italy. He designed and built a modest home on Gordon Drive; they lived there until 1962.  Erza passed away in 2005.

Val worked in construction until the early 1950s, but decided that working out of town so much was not the way to raise a family.  There was not much construction happening in Kelowna at that time, and so he decided to take a job as a clerk in the Post Office, which he worked at until his retirement in the 1970s. He enjoyed his time at the Post Office; he could keep his hand on the pulse on the community that he lived in and was so proud of. The day that they tore down the old Post Office, on the corner of Bernard Avenue and Ellis Street, was a very sad day for Dad. He tried to have the building saved but was unsuccessful; he thought that it would have been a landmark for the City of Kelowna.

In 1956, Val and Erza purchased some swamp property on Lakeshore Road (now on the corner of Lakeshore and Lanfranco), and decided to build an apartment motel and call it Valentino’s Villa. When my mom decided to purchase this property, my dad was so annoyed that she would spend hard earned money on a piece of swamp that was no good for anything, that he would not even drive her to the lawyer's office to sign the documents - she had to take a taxi. My dad built one unit a year until the complex was complete. In 2006, Val was proud when his family decided to start a commercial complex on this site.

Valentino Rampone enjoyed being involved in his community; he was a director of the Regional District of the Central Okanagan, alderman of the City of Kelowna, committee member of the Advisory Planning Commission for the City of Kelowna, board member of St. Charles Gamier Parish Council, President of the Kelowna Canadian Italian Club, Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus, and member of the Father Pandosy Council of the Knights of Columbus. He was also a member of the Okanagan Historical Society and enjoyed the Annual General Meetings and dinners.

The one event in his life that he was the most proud of was the re-discovery of the first Catholic Cemetery in Kelowna, on our farm on Gordon Drive.  He remembered, as a young boy, seeing crosses and head stones at this cemetery site.  In 1967, he purchased the farm. By 1983, my father contacted Professor James Baker, of Okanagan College, to see if an archaeological dig could happen, and a permanent remembrance be established. The dig took place, and about fifty graves were found. A small church was constructed to remember Father Pandosy and the people who were buried there.

The motto for the City Of Kelowna - "Fruitful in Unity" - meant a lot to my dad. He often said that as a community, if we work together, we can be successful.
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Adapted from an article by son, Domenic Rampone, in the 72nd Report of the Okanagan Historical Society, 1972.