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ITALY

The House of Italy (HOI) Mission:

We will end 2014 with our Festa onDecember 21. This 2015 will be apyrotechnical year in so many ways!

I wish to all of you grande salute egrande pace nei cuori. God bless you.A presto, Roberto

From the President:

Saluti Sorelle e Fratelli,

I am writing this note of salutefrom a place out of space. This isnot because I am flying to bellaNapoli, but because we still haveno land for HOI to rest .Oh boy,we sold so much cookies and cap-puccino! Our fantastic crew of vol-unteers , incredible people, all ofyou, we made a significant profitwith “cibo di casa nostra” Grazie!

Our mission is to offer to its members

and the public through its cultural

and social programs, an understand-

ing and appreciation of the history

and culture of Italy.

Our vision is that our HOI members

celebrate their Italian heritage and

culture with the people of San Diego.

An HOI “client” at December Nights

P A G E 2

N A V I G A T O R

Executive Board

President:

Roberto Ruocco

1st Vice President :

Richard Tomasello

2nd Vice President:

Rich La Rocca

Secretary: Dale Jones

VP Communications:

Victor Laruccia

V P Hospitality:

Barbara La Rocca &

Nina Crochet

Vice President Weekly

Activities:

Robert D’Amico

Treasurer:

Carol Patterson

VP, Membership

Rich La Rocca

Web Master:

Don Santamaria

Sergeant-at-Arms:

Arya Zeighamna

HOI Hotline

858 212 3300

House of Italy

Attn: President

415 Laurel St. #301

San Diego, CA 92101

House of Italy Future Events

Cari Amici,

The Hall of Nations building which houses our monthly meeting roomand the House of Italy remains closed for repairs. We anticipate thatthe building will be closed through December and possibly later.

Our Sunday, December 21st meeting @ 5:00 pm, will be in the SantaFe Room in the Balboa Park Club building which is a brief walk fromthe HOI. Please see the map below.

This will be a “Potluck “dinner so bring your favorite Italian dish ordesert to share! Please bring a serving utensil. We don’t have any avail-able from the HOI to use.

This will primarily be a meeting of fine cuisine, wine and socializingwith a brief business meeting. A brief discussion and some photos ofour December Nights participation is on page 5 & 6.

We also have the pleasure of having our own tenor Rosario Monettiwho will sing for us! You can sing along, if you desire…….

Come celebrate the Holidays at the HOI Sunday!

Ci vediamo e Buon Natale!

Don Santamaria

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Graziella Spinelli Kehrenberg

1/2/1944 ~ 11/26/2014

Graziella was an Italian professor and a

founding member of the Italian Cultural Cen-

ter (ICC) of San Diego. She was born in As-

mara, Eritrea. Graziella moved to San Die-

go in the late ‘60’s. She introduced the Italian

language in San Diego through Adult Educa-

tion and became soon after one of the first

ITALIAN PROFESSORS at San Diego State

University and the University of San Diego

where she worked for over 20 years. Graziella

founded together with other Italians, the Ital-

ian Cultural Center of San Diego in 1981. She

was President of the House of Italy in 1982 –

1983. She is a life-time member of the HOI.

She touched and transformed the life of hun-

dreds of students who thanks to her enthusi-

asm and passion for the Italian language and

culture, continued their studies and inspired

others to follow in her footsteps of teaching Italian.

Graziella passed away on Wednesday, November 26 after courageously fighting ovarian

cancer for the last five years. She leaves her sisters Gabriella (Luccia) Hill and Raffaella

((Lalla) Marsh-Rack who live in San Diego along with numerous friends and relatives in Italy.

Bella Professoressa. Possa riposare in pace.

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4

The November House of Italy meeting

5

December Nights, 2014

6

December Nights, 2014

Cari Soci,

As many of you know, we did not have the use of any kitchen this year due to building

repairs. Thus, we needed to curtail our sale items during December Nights. Thanks to

Jim Duke and his wonderful team of Baristas we were able to offer a variety of coffee

drinks which have made our “Patio” next to the HOI famous over the years. This time,

we moved the whole coffee operation into what was the Pasta Tent for years. In addi-

tion, thanks to a wonderful group of HOI bakers, we sold packets of a variety of home-

made cookies to supplement our cannoli sales.

We sold out of all the cookies and cannoli! Grazie mille to our bakers! Further, around

9:00 pm Saturday, Jim Duke sold out of just about everything. We will discuss more

about our December Nights results at the meeting Sunday.

I want to personally thank all the volunteers who manned all the essential stations in

our “Coffee House” tent. The cashiers and sales people, combined with the product

producers, made this new endeavor a great success. Complimenti!

However, despite the requirement for less volunteers to man stations this year, we expe-

rienced more difficulty getting members to volunteer. Some of our volunteers ended up

with double shifts. Given the number of club members, this should not happen. I full

well realize it’s a busy time of year and there may be many obligations you may have

during this period. However, keeping the HOI on your priority list would be appreciat-

ed. This annual event provides critical revenue for our club activities for the coming

year. Buon Natale!

Don Santamaria

www.houseofitalysandiego.org

HOUSE OF ITALY

ATTN : PRES IDENT

415 LAUREL ST . #301

SAN D I EGO , CA 92101

.

Sunday, December 21: House of Italy

Christmas party in the Santa Fe room in

the Balboa Park Club @ 5:00 pm. It’s a

POTLUCK dinner with musical entertain-

ment and wine! Come join the celebra-

tion!

It’s a short walk south from the HOI to-

ward the cottages. Consult the map on

page 2.

Sunday HOI Hosting

Due to the construction in the Hall of

Nations building which affects the HOI,

Sunday hosting duties are suspended

until further notice.

For all other club information, email:

P A G E 7

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For information about the San Diego Italian Film Festival events,

please go to: www.sandiegoitalianfilmfestival.com

houseofitalysandiego@gmail.com