Silvia | Wake County 100

Narrative, Continued:

When visiting Chile, Silvia enjoys spending time with her family and friends. She still owns many acres of land in San Fabian, near the mountains and visits as often as she can. Sitting in her cabin and hearing the Nuble River rushing down the mountains behind her is peaceful and relaxing. “It is very beautiful,” she says. She only wishes it will stay like this forever and that the city pollution won’t touch her pristine land. “I love my grandkids,” she says, “every one of them is like a jewel to me.” She loves her family, and right now she is contented, but wishes she could be in Chile.

“Before, there wasn’t any diversity in Wake County,” Sylvia says. “Now there are people from many different ethnic backgrounds living in Wake County.” Sylvia believes that Wake County is “growing too fast” and there is “too much pollution.” “We should create a public metro,” she says.

Written by: Jaslina

Silvia

Gender: Female

Age: 65 and older

Race: Other

Nativity: Foreign Born

Educational Attainment:

Some High School

Occupation: Retired

Travel Time to Work: N/A

Internet Access in Home: Yes
Religion: Catholic

City: Raleigh

Narrative:

Life for Silvia as an Italian cook, gardener, caretaker, immigrant and mother has not been trouble-free. Being raised in a mostly Italian home, and eating Italian foods, some of her family members spoke Italian. Although she never learned the language, she still carries her culture everywhere she goes. Silvia’s mother and father were both born in Italy, but moved to Chile after World War II. As a young girl, she went to high school in Chile, at Liceo 7, an all girls’ school. Then she met Rolando, her future husband. Even though Silvia wanted to go to college, Rolando wanted her to marry him. Silvia didn’t want to leave him, so she dropped out of high school and got married. Both of her elder siblings, her brother and elder sister, went on to college to become orthodontists. One of her older brothers, wanted to go back to Italy and study opera, since he had a beautiful operatic voice. As a young girl, Sylvia also loved to sing. Music was and is important to her. Music, Italian food, and family, were her life.

Then, she had her first child in Chile at age 19. She was “overjoyed” to have her and named her Fanny. After her first child, she immigrated to the US, and had three others named Silvia, John Paul, and Lisa. It was a tough transition for her to move from where she was close to her parents and her siblings. Sylvia’s family provided a great deal of support and she then had to face learning English without them. At first, she lived in the suburbs of Chicago, she then moved to North Carolina, because “It had beautiful scenery and the weather was nice.” Even though North Carolina was nice, it wasn’t anywhere near as beautiful as where she lived before in Chile. Sylvia taught her children never to loose their Spanish language. Her culture is important to her and she wanted to pass it on to her children, so she spoke Spanish all of the time in her house. Whether it was singing Spanish or Italian songs, speaking in Spanish, and even cursing in Spanish, her culture was everywhere. Her proudest moments were seeing her children succeed and go to college.

Now, her main priority is to take care of her husband, who has many different health complications. Sylvia is a confident woman, in charge of her household. Every holiday, you can see her cooking up a storm in her newly furnished kitchen. From lentils, turkey and rum balls to rice pudding, lasagna, and spaghetti. These are only a few of the delicious concoctions that Silvia makes for her family for every occasion. Her family especially enjoys her famous pineapple up-side-down cake.

The Doon School