John L Zanni Life Sketch by Jackie Z. Cook “Italics are from John’s journal”

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My dad was a great story teller because he had a full and interesting life. A few years ago, I asked dad to write down his life story. He took this note book and started, so I am going to give you a brief glimpse into some of the amazing things he did in his own words.

My dad’s parents were immigrants from the northern Alps of Italy to Connecticut. They lived on a country road, named Bokum Road, In Old Saybrook, CT. The town is situated on the mouth of the Connecticut river where it enters the Long Island sound. There were many other Italians living on Bokum Road, including his grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Here is what he says about that area:

“Our house was on a road that connected two main roads. Along that road there was a little house on some land where Richard Wales, an old civil war veteran, lived. Mom would see that he was taken care of. She cooked for him and cleaned his house. He was so thankful he left her everything. It was after he willed the house to her that I was born there.

On January 3, 1925 a new son was born to John B. Zanni and Natala Zanni and named John Leno Zanni. Oh, I bet it was cold outside, surely the sun was shining brightly, but inside in Mom’s bed out popped a little boy. Maybe not a planned one, as Mom was 44 years old. But then things were not rally planned in those days, they just happened. At least I guess that’s the way it was. However, there was a reason for me to be here and that reason would eventually come.”

Dad’s family lived on a small farm and he talks about his chores (I’ll read this to you grandkids this afternoon so you can appreciate how easy your chores are!) There were kids on Bokum Road dad would play with. He says:

“When I was little Bokum Road wasn’t even paved and it ran through a heavily wooded area. I loved to climb trees. The road was paved when I was 4 or 5. We even got electric service shortly after. It was wonderful to get rid of those oil lamps an have running water and a fridge. No more ice box out in the corncrib.

As I said, I spent a lot of time climbing trees. Up behind Esters house (his oldest sister) there was a grove of white birch trees. I would climb one and get swaying until I could grab another, just to see how far I could go.”

“As a kid there isn’t too much to do in those days, you had to make your own fun times. I can remember across the road from Domies house (his neighborhood friend) there was this large field and at the top of the field there was this wild cherry tree. We would climb up and sit in the tree eating these wild cherries. They were small but too many would make you big sick with the runs!”

I wonder if this is why he planted an entire orchard of cherry trees in the back of our house in Lehi. Moving forward, it comes time for him to start school. The school building was in the middle of town and dad had lived a pretty protected life on Bokum Road. He says:

“My first day going to school, I did not want to go. I was a real momma’s boy. Well I went and I cried, if it wasn’t for my sister Babe (she was six years older), I think I would have run away. Well I got used to it and went on through the lower grades without too much trouble. Those 4 to 6 years were not too exciting. Go to school, go home, hang out with the neighbor kids. We ha to walk home from the end of Bokum Road. I think it was when I was in 6th grade the bus came up to Negrelli’s and turned around. It was at this time they added on to the school and built a nice gym which divided the lower grades from the high school. During that time, we went to school a half a day.”

My dad was always active. If you read his obit, he played a lot of sports growing up, and then in our family there was bowling, golf – lots of golf. He was very competitive, even at card and board games. From his journal:

“As I grew older, I became more interested in sports. I used to play big time baseball pitcher. I had a target on the hay stack and my pitching mound was about 30’ or 35’ away. I used a tennis ball an you could make a tennis ball do about anything. It could make a huge curve.

I also had a wire hoop on the side of the barn and with the same ball I would practice basketball. The hoop was only about 6 inches in diameter, not very easy to score any points. But I got better the older I got. I also used a broom handle to hit a golf ball. I would go down to the bottom of the lot, hit the ball and if it went over a grapevine fence, it was a homer. When all that tired me out, maybe I’d go down to the swimming hole and take a dip. The swimming hole was down in the woods.”

Once I found his high school report card. He had bad grades, which surprised me because dad was pretty smart at figuring things out, he was always reading.

“Now on to high school. I was not a very good student, jut got through with the hep of spots. I guess they needed me on the basketball team. We had a very good team, one of the really good teams in the state. Five of us played varsity ball all 4 years in high school. We took state championship one year. We would practice after school, and after I would run all the way home about 3 miles. It was the same with soccer, another very good team. I also was into track. I did like to run. Was into tennis also. So, my high school learning was how to shoot a ball, kick a ball, hit a ball, an be able to run like hell!”

There were 28 seniors in his class and they had many class reunions. It is written in his yearbook: “This indispensable basketball player was dubbed “Long John” by the sportswriters. Shy, outstandingly well dressed, and a lover of pranks, he causes many feminine hearts to skip a beat.” That really sums up Dad, I always thought he was so good looking and fun to be around.

Even though he got a scholarship to the University of Rhode Island (obviously not for his grades but for his basketball skills), his path took him into WWII. Being a boy that grew up by the sea, he joined the Navy. From his journal:

“After high school it was off to war. Most of us joined the navy. I was sent to Sampson Training base located in the finger lakes area of NY. When boot training was over, I was sent to Pier 92 in NY and put aboard a troop-carrying ship, the Susan B. Anthony. After learning my way around, I realized the easiest duty on the ship was in the quarter master core. We spent most of our time on the bridge. I made a lot of trips across the Atlantic to mostly Scotland, usually into the Firth of Clyde. And we would return to NYC or Boston. It was good because Mom and Pop’s was about 100 miles from either place and it was easy to jump on the train and be home in a short time.

“On our last trip to Scotland, we knew something was up because we spent more time there. When we did leave, we were told we were going to Weymouth in Southern England. That is when we took on about 2000 troops. When we left our destination was Omaha Beach for the invasion of Europe at Normandy. Crossing the channel our ship hit 2 mines and I had drawn duty in the after-steering engine room, deep down in the fan tail of the ship. When we hit the mines, I was blown up to the overhead, no broken bones and able to stand up. But the power was out an it was so ark I didn’t now where to go. My shoes were blown off and I was doomed. But then I saw this light shinning down the ladder. Petty (his navy buddy) was on his way to save me. His full name was Clifton Petty. He was on duty on the bridge and left his post to find me. If it were not for Petty, I would still be in that room at the bottom of the English Channel. But all went well and not one person was lost.

We were in a rest camp in Scotland for 30 days and after getting home we were allowed another 30 days after when I was to report to Newport RI for commissioning school. After we went to Norfolk, VA and were put on a new ship, the Est4es. It was a communication ship, mostly brass hats aboard. We left Norfolk and went through the Panama Canal to Peral Harbor in the Pacific. We spent a few days there, then off to Mog Mog in the Ulithi atoll getting ready for Iwo Jima invasion. We had Admiral Blandy aboard and we were in charge of bombardment. We were there for 3 days before the invasion. This was the worst part of the war for me, seeing so many man being killed on the beaches. So many that we even had wounded aboard our ship, everyone had to help. I was enlisted by the dentist to help.

We left shortly after th4e invasion and on to Leyte for repairs. We were rammed by the Cruiser Chester one night. I happened to be on the bridge at the time, it was hectic and I learned later that the captain of the Chester was Hartley our former captain of the Susan B. Anthony. Dumb guy.

We left Leyte after repairs and sailed back to Ulithi Atoll, now getting ready for Okinawa. We were at Okinawa 7 days before the invasion, and the landing went a lot better than Iwo Jima. There was even a party on the beach the 2nd ay because no one was lost. I know because we supplied case after case of beer.

After Okinawa we sailed home to Oakland Navy Supply Depot. This is where my life really began. I didn’t know it at the time, but the reason for my being here on earth was soon to happen.”

Enter the story, Erma Busk. She was a Mormon girl from pioneer stock and had grown up in Richfield UT. Mom had moved to California where some of her cousins lived and opened a beauty shop in Oakland. We made this book when Mom and Dad celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary (which was just one year before Mom passed away). Dad wrote how their paths crossed:

“Having been at sea for such a long time our goal (John and his crew buddies) was girls, fun, an more girls from Medford, OR to Sacramento, CA. This one night we decided to do Oakland. Three of us took out in search of girls. As we were casing out a street, we passed a night club, the Top Hat. There was a band playing an couples were on the dance floor having a great time, so in we went. There at a table were three gals standing and talking. I fast froze. This one gal was smartly dressed and her hair was perfect. They glanced at us and I walked over to this gorgeous gal, looked her in the eye and said. “I’m falling in love with you. Will you dance with me?” One of the girls said, “Go ahead Erma.” So now I know her name. We danced and we talked and she agreed to let me escort her home. Now I know where she lived.

“She said she owned a beauty shop just up the street. Needless to say, I was back the next day and every day after that. One night at the base I had an idea for a letter I wanted to send to her. I had to have hep from some of the guys. The song I was going to use was called “Amour.” They helped with the words; I just replaced the A with an E. “Emour, Emour, Emour, these words so sweet that I repeat mean I adore you” and so on. I think this letter put me over the top.”

Dad returned to CT and received an honorable military release. And from there his eyes were set on marrying Mom. She sold her shop, moved to Lehi to stay with her mother. Dad found a room to rent in American Fork and looked for work. He got a job at Geneva Steel in Utah County and got in good with his supervisor. After asking for time off to get married, he was given 3 weeks. They planned on driving to Colorado to get married and then continue on to Connecticut so Dad could introduce his family to his bride. Dad writes about their return from Connecticut:

“We thought the honeymoon was over but little did we know that it would last for over 60 years.

Now our life begins in earnest. We have 2 goals: 1 – house an 2 – someone to leave all the is money we are going to make. We did have dreams. We now stated looking for a lot. We found 2 in American Fork. They were both several acres and ore than we want to pay.

One day driving down from Highland on 1200 East in Lehi, we spot this piece of ground. I had to go up a steep bank and expected to see a reservoir, but I was planted in wheat. I went over to the house near by an aske a guy (Ruben Russon) who owned that piece of ground. He said Ike Peck, and pointed out his house just own the street on State ret. We went to see Ike and asked if he would be willing to sell that piece of land and to my surprise, he said you bet. I said how much. He said $1,000. I said sold and shook his hand and gave him $50 to seal the sale. I told him I would be back the next day with the rest of the money. Come to find out he had watered that piece that morning and the water got away from him, bit mess, an when I talked to him, he was having trouble with his sewer system, bigger mess an hew as unhappy. Just plain lucky for us.”

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we could buy 2 acres of land for $1000 today! Well, now #1 was taken care of and three years after they married, I entered the picture.

My dad blended in so well with Mom’s family. He loved going to fish lake, taking their trailer to American Fork canyon, bowling in an AF bowling league, golfing and always visiting with family and friends. I have so many memories of going to the Curtis family reunions on mom’s side, or going to cousins’ houses. But then, we would also make a yearly road trip to Connecticut and I would enter a different world which was just as wonderful – staying in my grandma’s little cottage on Bokum Road where dad grew up and eating her Italian cooking, Uncles who had boats and would take us out on the sound, and visiting family and cousins.

Even though these two people came from such different backgrounds (different religions, different family cultures, different environments), their devotion to each other overcame any obstacles and they had a wonderful life together.

When I was 10 Mom got thyroid cancer and was in the Provo hospital. I couldn’t go in to see her, so she waved to me from the window. Her head was all bandaged up. It scared dad so much, but he had such strong faith instilled in him as a little boy from his catholic mother. He had been a smoker and he put his pack of cigarettes on the dashboard and asked the Lord to heal his wife and he would stop smoking. He never touched a cigarette after that.

When mom showed signs of dementia, Dad was patiently taking care of her. He would say “She has taken care of me all these years, it’s my turn to take care of her.” As the dementia progressed, she was always looking for him, he always needed to be in her sight. She would say “where’s John”. She passed away in his arms in their bed.

Dad lived in his Riverton home for 12 years after Mom passed. And he always talked about her. In the first years he would drive to the cemetery twice a day to be by her headstone, tend the flowers and decorations he would put there, and say a prayer. The trips became once a day, but always trips to the cemetery. He became an icon as he met many people there. Some would come up and sort of stand nearby, he would call out to them with a hello to encourage a conversation. Often it would start, “I see you here all the time” … and dad would begin his stories. There were many friendships started.

There were all the friends he had in his neighborhood. His house was set at the top of circle and he could sit in his garage and wave to everyone who drove in. There were many conversations with the children who would come up. The Bauman’s moved next door to dad about 5 years ago and have been wonderful neighbors. Dad loved it when their first little girl, Penelope, came along. She is now 5 and would come sit by him to talk or wave at him as he pulled out for his trip to the cemetery. Shawn spent many hours visiting with my dad listening to his stories. I’m so grateful to Shawn for all the things he would do to help dad.

Dad loved his grandchildren and greats. They called him GGPA for great grandpa. He took care of them in so many ways and they took care of him too, and loved him so much. I’m sure that all the interaction between all family and friends and my daily visits are what kept him so active. He always had a smile, a twinkle in his eye, and found joy in life.

I shall miss my Dad dearly. We have become such dear friends. I’ve spent so much time with him visiting every day over the last 12 years that I’ve really gotten to know him. He often said I was all he had, and I would tell him the same. His passing leaves a big hole in my heart. I’m so glad that I had the privilege to be his daughter and am happy that he is with his sweetheart. His closing sentence in his journal says:

“How could one woman make life so wonderful for two people.”

He was a great man who lived a great life and had a great love.