Gertrude Marie (Stopford) Martino

Before she got married, Chicken was the credit manager at the Gilchrist department store in downtown Boston. When she was late for work, she snuck up to her office in the freight elevator. The employees voted her Miss Congeniality and most popular enployee. They took this photo of her as 'Miss Gilchrist'.

Dom's father Leo said to Chicken's mother Katie, 'Keep your daughter away from my son, I have a nice Italian girl picked out for him.' Katie's answer was 'Who would want him anyway!'

Dom Martino took Chicken to Cape Cod, but Dom lost his glasses at the beach. Chicken had to drive home. She hit the car in front of her and knocked the windshield out. All the bugs flew into her face for the rest of the way home. Everytime she went around a corner, she said 'Dear Jesus, save us!' Chicken never drove a car again.

Here, Chicken and the girls are on a ship going to Panama in 1939. Papa Dom was already there working as a planner on the locks. The photographer told Chicken that he was doing an article about passengers on the ship. But it was a trick - he just wanted to sell pictures!

At dinner, the waiter offered to cut 3 year old Suzanne's chicken dinner. Suzanne said 'My Daddy lets me eat my chicken with my fingers, you dope!'

During the war, civilians were not allowed on any of the ships returning home. In 1946, Papa Dom contacted Washington to arrange for civilians on a troopship, so that the family could go back to the states.

On that trip, Suzanne was seasick the whole time. Chicken stayed with her in their cabin, and Suzanne ate nothing but a few crackers. Papa Dom took Trudy to meals, but he also got seasick one day, so he asked a friend to take Trudy to dinner. The head steward then announced that Trudy was the best sailor on the ship because she was the only one who never missed a seating in the dining room.

There was an American Indian on the returning troopship. He was called 'Mashed Potatoes'. Trudy wondered whether he was a code talker.

This is Chicken and Papa Dom's 20's wedding anniversary. Everyone went to the Green Gables restaurant, a very posh place in Phoenix. They had a knight in shining armor, riding on a white horse, greeting people at the door.

Trudy didn't know what to order. Papa Dom told her to order whatever she wanted, so she picked breast of pheasant with wild rice under glass. It was very expensive!