Physical description: Interview with Marie Inglese/English Mancinelli, husband Albert "Ice" Mancinelli present and adds comments on occasion. See attached index for more information.
Original on audiotape cassette in case. Cassette side A has a length of 48 minutes, 3 seconds. Side B has a length of 23 minutes, 53 seconds. Transferred to one mp3 file for access. Clip of access file attached. Full version available on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/historycolorado/marie-english-mancinelli-oral-history-ciapaoh085
Project description:
In 2002, the Colorado Historical Society (now known as History Colorado) founded the Colorado Italian American Preservation Association (CIAPA). A volunteer organization, CIAPA’s mission is to work collaboratively with the Society and other organizations to develop, support and coordinate projects that preserve, promote and celebrate Italian American culture and heritage. Since 2002, CIAPA has carried out its mission by meeting with people from the Colorado Italian American community, recording their stories and creating an archive of research materials that includes oral histories, photographs, moving images, sound recordings and artifacts. To date, CIAPA has helped the Society acquire over 200 oral histories, 600 artifacts and nearly 6,000 photographs. Since 2002, CIAPA has developed over 4,000 research files, all of which document the history, culture and traditions of Italian American families in Colorado.
Interview summary:
This interview was conducted on September 25, 2004 with Marie English Mancinelli and her husband Albert Mancinelli by a Colorado Italian American Preservation Association (CIAPA) volunteer. A large part of the interview focuses on Marie’s early upbringing in a Denver Catholic orphanage, St. Clara’s Orphanage off 29th Avenue. St. Clara’s was across the street from the Little Sisters of the Poor home for the elderly, and also served other community needs, such as teaching catechism to Denver’s African-American youth. Marie arrived there with her two siblings when she was two years old after her parents divorced, and remained until she moved back in with her mother at age eight. Marie recounts her memories of St. Clara’s appearance and layout, daily routines with chores and mass, mountain picnics paid for by Coors Beer, and the priests and nuns that also lived and taught there. Marie also recalls a visit by Archbishop of Denver Urban John Vehr.
The latter half of the interview contains details about Marie’s life after the orphanage. Marie remembers her grandparents whom she and her mother visited, who owned a shoe making business at 37th and Navajo. She also remembers her schooling at St. Patrick’s and St, Joseph’s Catholic schools, and her high school work at an Italian grocery store where she met her husband, Albert; she ultimately worked there off and on until it closed in 1993. She and Albert both briefly discuss raising their children, their working lives, growing their own celery in their neighborhood, and changes in Denver’s Italian community over time, as well.
Notes:
See MSS.02595 Marie (English) Mancinelli and Albert "Ice" Mancinelli files for additional information and images.
From the book Italy in Colorado by Alisa DiGiacomo:
Albert “Ice” and Maria “Marie” Rose (Inglese/English) Mancinelli
Born on Christmas Day, 1922, Albert “Ice” Mancinelli was named after Prince Albert of Italy. His siblings were upset at the disruption of Christmas festivities that his birth caused. The last child of Pasquale and Angelina Mancinelli, Albert was “Ice” from early on. He was the only child of ten with blond hair; when his siblings asked their mother if the ice delivery man was blond, the name stuck, even after his hair darkened.
Growing up in the Depression, Ice Mancinelli experienced hard times and good times in Denver’s Little Italy. At age ten, he started boxing at Checkers Night Club, located at West Thirty-third and Pecos Streets, and at thirteen he was fighting in Golden Gloves amateur tournaments; he won his first of five titles when he was fourteen. He is the only Denver fighter to win division titles in five weight classes. In 1940, Ice won his first professional fight against Kid Corbett in three rounds. He was destined for a career in boxing until he joined the Navy in 1941. He served in World War II in Alaska and Japan and aboard the USS Saratoga. In February 1945, the Saratoga was fired upon and bombed by nearly twenty Japanese planes, including five Kamikaze pilots who crashed into the carrier. Radiation from the attack cost Ice two fingers and half of his left foot. His right leg was later amputated below the knee.
After his discharge, Ice returned to Denver’s Little Italy. He worked as a buyer at Denargo Market and owned Mancinelli Sporting Goods at 4036 Tejon Street. In 1949 he married Maria “Marie” Rose Inglese/English. Born in Denver, Marie met Ice when she took a job at the Mancinelli family grocery store. Marie and Ice moved into the home originally owned by Marie’s mother, and the couple has remained there for over forty years. Ice and Marie had four children, all born in Denver: Albert Jr., Maria, Helen, and Daniel.