Sussie Peretti remembers Frostburg and NaNu Peretti...

 One of my many fond memories of going to visit in Frostburg still continues today. When my family would go to visit in Frostburg, we would head straight for Nana and Pop Peretti’s house at 38 Broadway.  After many warm hugs, everyone would retire to the dining room table where we all would sit, talk (and eat) for hours on end.  When I got older, the tradition continued, although 38 Broadway became Net’s house. An awesome one-act play could definitely be written about life revolving around that wonderful dining room table.  I just called Frostburg today because it is Easter, and everyone (of course) was sitting around the dining room table (although there were so many people there that a table was also set up in the living room too)!!

 Another memory I have of Frostburg is one that made it easier for me to get through school.  Every time I had to write a (silly) story I would always pick the same one.  I might embellish it more or less, but essentially it was the same story.  I thought that my grandfather (Enrico Peretti) was a big war hero, and I always got a lot of enjoyment out of telling everyone about it.  He had been in WWI, and had been wounded in battle.  He was so badly hurt, that his fellow soldiers thought that he was dead, and so they put him in the morgue tent. Well, he wasn’t dead, so when he woke up, he came crawling out of the tent which made the poor soldier that was guarding the tent have a fit.  Well, in 2003 we (the Perettis) had a family get together (which is the next memory I’ll tell you about), and I found out the truth.  My grandfather was not wounded in the war at all, but was one of the many people that got very sick in the 1917-18 Flu Epidemic!  I’m glad that I only found out the truth as an adult because the story is much better when he was a war hero!  

 This is a fairly recent memory, but a dear one all the same.  Since my brother (Ken) and I (and our families) had never been able to make it to Frostburg at Christmastime, and I really wanted to experience the traditional meal, the Perettis all got together and went through all of the work to prepare the Christmas eve dinner in July.  I had no idea that it was such an elaborate meal, but they all pitched in and made it a very special meal, and one that I’ll always remember!