About Angela

Why I wrote Liborio: My Great Love

I was just an everyday suburban wife and mother when Liborio my husband of 32 years was diagnosed with pleural mesothelioma and given a prognosis that in a matter of seconds turned our whole world upside down. It resulted in my immediate resignation from my much enjoyed employment, so I could fully care for Liborio. We both found much peace in the knowledge that we were in this together hand in hand , fighting the biggest battle of our lives. A battle for life and justice. Somehow we had always managed to meet life’s challenges, to carry our crosses with faith, but this challenge was much greater. The rest of Liborio’s days were spent living in expectation of something we didn’t want to contemplate, not even in the slightest.

In the months that followed, with time running out Liborio realized he had an important story to tell. What was happening to him was happening to thousands of others and no one seemed to care. Writing this book meant exposing intimate and deep parts of our lives to a large number of unknown people, but I felt that this was necessary for the reader to truly sense an insight into our story . During his final days gasping for breath Liborio was driven to complete the mission of recording his memories. This was done in the hope that I could complete as I had promised him, his story. I had the task of compiling and writing about his amazing journey and the incredible way that through the twists of fate his destiny unfolded.

This book has been my greatest achievement and would not have become a reality without the inspiration drawn from Liborio, whose memory infuses my life and continues to sustain me. To fulfill his final wish has been a mission of love, a cathartic and incredibly challenging experience as well as therapeutic as I shed millions of tears, while reliving the pain of losing my greatest love. The book took many years in the making, as I faced the daunting task of first transcribing his recorded tapes and putting them into chronological order. It was a difficult task as I listened to Liborio as he choked with emotion and broke down at some of the memories. But, I had to do it , and got on with the task however long it would take.

There have been so many wonderful people , to whom I am indebted, that have crossed my path in life and made a real contribution to the progress of this book. My gratitude to them will be understood from the pages of the book.

THE MAKING OF ANGELA

It is well known that we are the product of our environment, the people and cultures that we have lived among and it is from our life experiences and challenges that our strength of character is built and shaped.

Both my parents were early  migrants from Sicily.    my father arrived in Fremantle in 1928 and my mother in 1937.  They were married in 1941  and went to live in Donnybrook  a little country town in the South West of Western Australia where  my father found work on a farm digging potatoes.  Many Italians have made important contributions to Australian Society and today they  are the third largest ethnic group in Australia.   For those early arrivals in the  1930’s during The Depression many migrants spent months searching for work mainly on farms and railways, living in tents and camps.

I  was  born in 1943 the second of nine children.  I was their first daughter  and was named Angela Maria  after my paternal grandmother, but was always called Angelina or Angie. When I was two years old my  parents  moved to Rivervale, and then to Beaconsfield in Fremantle.    I was educated  at  School of Christ the King in Beaconsfield and subsequently attended St. Joseph’s college in Fremantle where I obtained a Junior certificate and completed a Commercial Course in 1958.  I  always had a passion for legal work and after nine months in real estate as my first job,  was  very excited to be offered a legal  position at the Fremantle Courthouse as Secretary to the Bailiff, a position I held until my marriage.

I have fond memories of  a happy childhood, surrounded by lots of siblings that I helped mum care for.    I loved dressing up  and wearing mum’s high heels and playing with my rag doll, and remember mum saying to me “ you  are lucky because you don’t need a doll to play with,  you have real babies to care for”  I was taught at a very early age how to fold and change wet nappies for my siblings.

I had a strict upbringing and a fairly sheltered life due to the Sicilian culture and its traditions at the time, which  today of course  no longer exist. I  always felt  loved by my parents who were very proud of me.  They always told me I was a very  smart girl and I  received a lot of praise because at a very young age I could speak two languages and translated for them when required.  This praise I believe  gave me a lot of confidence in myself.   As I grew older and met Liborio I began to crave for more freedom to do as I pleased  like my Aussie  friends . I became rebellious and resentful , and began to reject my parents values and this caused some friction  which you will read about in the story.

The most exciting thing that ever happened to me was meeting Liborio in 1959 and falling deeply in love at first sight.  Another highlight was the  following year on the anniversary of our meeting I was crowned queen for a day for the blessing of the fishing fleet festival and remember feeling over-awed dressed in a beautiful white dress, that my mother made especially for the occasion.  Wearing my sash and tiara, I felt  humble and  honoured to be presented to,  and photographed with,  Dame Pattie Menzies  the wife of Robert   Menzies  Prime Minister at the time.    After that came our wedding day and  later the birth of three beautiful children.

Today  I feel privileged to have found happiness once again with a wonderful companion with whom to share my life, for there was a dark time when I  thought  that I could never master the new reality or learn to live with the pain of losing Liborio.

I like to think I am still the same suburban mum that adores her  children and  two grandchildren.  I live with my companion Frank  and dog Billy a (chichuaua) whom we inherited from my late mother.

After spending seven magnificent months touring around Australia with our caravan, we now spend our time with friends and family and often take short fishing  trips down South or up North.  I am a firm believer that the circle of life continues:  when one circle closes another opens,  for life must go on for those left behind.