I have many wonderful surprises through writing this column!

I received this letter on Thursday, but I have to have my copy ready by Tuesday. It takes a few days to get the paper organized. After you read the letter, you will understand why I wanted to add it to the column. I always get permission first. If people don’t want to share their thoughts, I respect that. Fortunately, most people agree to share their thoughts.

I was thrilled to find out there was a reader out there who shared my experiences. Yes, the lady I adopted to be my grandma was her grandma. But there was much more to the story. We bought the house at 100 Eagle St. and the family that lived across the street was the Castellana family. I had the same “grandma” they had!

I went to school with Hoppy and Marian. Marian and I were in the same class and graduated together. Then later she married Dr. Conti. Hoppy was a terrific trumpet player. I understand he’s still playing his trumpet and is one of the oldest trumpet players in the country. He was good friends with John Cash, who married Josie Notaro, another classmate. They live in California.

If anyone has any updates on these people, I’d sure like to be brought up to date!

I was so excited! I called her father “Uncle Tony.” He was a school teacher and he married “Aunt Helen,” who was a school teacher, too. My sister Louise was also a school teacher and my brother Tony became a principal of a school on Long Island. My sister Jo was good friends with Carrie LoGuidice and Frances Fote until they both passed away.

My mother and Mrs. Castellana were very popular at the belt at Gervase Canning Factory. My mother told stories and Mrs. Castellana told jokes.

We were like extended families! And now I’ve found an extended family. Francine is still alive! I can’t wait until we get together and compare stories! Just think – if it weren’t for this column we never would have found each other! And of course, Josie Christopher helped! Aren’t small towns great! Maybe we’ll find more people!

Now here’s the letter I received. Isn’t it beautifully written? Of course, it helps to have parents who were both teachers!

My Dear Friend,

Although I’ve never met you, because of your weekly column I feel as though I have the right to call you my friend. You have given all your readers that right with your down-home wisdom, your good advice, and the memories you’ve shared of a life that was beautiful, filled with joy and love.

I was born a Conti and proudly cherish my own personal history. In several of your columns you have mentioned a family that I have loved and missed. My grandmother, I believe, was the grandmother who “adopted” you so fondly because you could speak Italian. My cousins (Hoppy, Marian, etc.) were the ones you called your friends. The family of my childhood was the one you so accurately described….filled with music, parties, laughter and lots and lots of love.

From Eagle and Cushing streets through Route 83 in Laona, Contis lived and thrived, sharing their goodness, their fun and their music. That was our neighborhood and that was our life, so long ago. Sometimes, watching old movies (the good, wholesome ones) on the Turner Classic Movie channel, I think, “That was us!”

Now that time has passed, families still gather, but children are isolated from each other by their Smart Phones. The technology that has joined us has also separated us. Instead of gathering around the piano, they are playing video games or texting someone somewhere else.

The Conti family has continued to grow and expand. I thank God every single day for my children, grandchildren, great grandchildren. I always say that people have come into our family by birth, by choice, and always, always by the Grace of God.

Your columns have given us a chance to talk about and share the memories that I thought were mine alone. It’s so good to know that there is someone else who recalls the simpler times, the times when we made our own fun while learning responsibilities.

In Saturday’s column, you mentioned my daughter, Gina Kron. Yes, Gina is Grandma Conti’s great-granddaughter. I’m glad that everyone can see that she still carries on the Conti Way, of sharing what she has earned.

Thank you so very much for linking our past with our present, the old Fredonia with the new Fredonia, the old ways with the current ways; and for offering the hope that human nature has not changed, but can go on into the future, still caring and sharing, still giving and loving.

May God continue to bless you with Health and Hope – and that marvelous sense of humor we all enjoy so much.

Very sincerely yours,

Francine (Conti) Sheffield Buchanan