3rd February 1969 - The day my grandfather Fernando Amorim died

Fernando Antonio Amorim, my Father's father, was born on 18 May 1895, in a town called São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, up in the mountains of the state of Rio de Janeiro, near Rio Prêto (Black River) on the border with the state of Minas Gerais. He married Albina Rosa de Jesus on 2nd February 1918. Both of them and most of their extended families migrated to Ourinhos-SP in the state of São Paulo, on the border of the state of Paraná. They lived in Ourinhos in the 1920s where they had most of their children (Antonia 1921, João 1923, Mário 1925, Dulce 1929 and Cláudio 1931) and due to the advent of the so-called 1932 Revolution, they moved to Marília-SP, where they had 2 more children, namely Luiz, in 1934, and Maria Rosa, in 1938. 

My father João Amorim married Yolanda Darin, on 18 May 1945, the day Fernando Antonio turned 50 years old and. Four years later I was born on 18 May 1949, the day my grandfather turned 54. 

My earliest memories of being alive is when Mother, Father & older brother Fernando Neto lived at a little wooden house on Rua Nelson Spielmann, circa 1952. Around this time, Fernando Senior, who used to sell lottery tickets, hit the big time and won quite a large amount of money with which he finally had the chance to buy a house for his family. He bought a house on Rua Rio Claro, where he moved in with wife and children. As João was already married and living on Rua Nelson Spielmann, Fernando had a brand new wooden house built at the backyard, so João could move in with Yolanda, my brother & myself. Mother's favourite sister Nina, lived near by on Rua Rio Grande do Sul, with her husband Mingo Macera and kids Ariene (1938) & Aristeu (1942). 

The main memory I have of this house was the newness of the wooden planks which looked clean and bright. Timber usually get darker with the passing of time. Our house in the back lot of our grandfather's house was cozy and dear. I remember the morning of 5 January 1953, when my younger brother was born. I woke up and couldn't find my Mother anywhere so I wondered around, got myself a pair of scissors, looked at the mirror and started cutting my hair. When adults saw my new hairdo they immediately took me to a barber shop and had my head shaved. Later on I was taken to Maternity Gota de Leite where I visited my Mother at her maternity bed and met the new baby. Oh, what a feeling! 

Sooner than later Fernando got imbroiled in a fracas with the owner of a coffee toaster site nearby which spewed pollution on the air. Grandpa was unhappy with the mess it caused in our backyard. I can imagine Vovô, being a Taurean, would be writhing madly. On top of that Luiz, who was 18, bred pigeons and someone out there was deliberately shooting them birds dead. As a true Taurean, Vovô was really unhappy and he managed to sell our houses on Rio Claro and buy another on Rua Rodrigues Alves on the other side of town, a neighbourhood that had been the town's bordello area in the 30s & 40s. Most business and dwellers had already moved to a place near the Cemetery called Vila Miranda. Not all people went away though. 

Grandpa did the wrong thing for he ended up losing all properties and went back to pay rent forever. 

In the meantime, Antonia, who had been working in Baurú where she met and became engaged to a German-Brazilian called Günther, who she married and was setting up shop in Baurú, where they lived in a fairly large house. Antonia must have had the time of her life for she always had social aspirations and now she had seen and conquered. After Antonia left for Baurú, we didn't stay too long in the place. Vovô rented a house for him, Albina, Luiz, Maria Rosa and Nadir on Rua Mato Grosso. My father found another house on the same rua Mato Grosso and we moved in too. 

Now, we finally settled down, even if both households had to pay rent... but that period turned out to be one of the best the Family enjoyed ever, for it was the last time we lived to together, not in the same house but as neighbours. Everything happened to us there. 

At first we lived on a wooden house owned by a lady called Dona Cida and her husband 'seu' Aurélio Pasquarelli, who were originally from Barra-Bonita-SP. She doubled down as a part-time hairdresser and he worked at Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro. They had an only son called Walter, in his early 20s. Walter was pretty good looking and the pride and joy of his mother. He worked as a clerk in a bank in downtown Marília. Walter was a man-about-town dressing well and going to the best dances. He subscribed to both 'O Cruzeiro' and 'Manchete', the top weekly illustrated magazines which brought all about beauty contests and popular music trends. Walter fancied popular singer Angela Maria so much so he'd found his bride-to-be in Santusa, a young lady who resembled the dark singer of his predilection. Some time in August 1956, Walter had his dream come true when Angela toured Marília and sang at the Hotel Líder gala ball. Walter managed to be on the list of those young men chosen to dance with the great star. Not long after Walter danced with Angela Maria, he announced his wedding date, so our Family had to vacate the premises; that is, we had to move out of the wooden house owned by his parents for they would built a brand new brick house for their only son. 

By 1955, Mario was already living and attending college in São Paulo. He wanted to become a social worker so he took a 2-year course at the Catholic University. After finishing Uni got himself a job at sprawling Hospital das Clínicas, the largest hospital in South America. Mario had hit the big time coming from such humble beginnings. He bought himself a motorcycle and rode 500 km from São Paulo to Marília where he was received as a sort of a hero. He had plans to get married which he did in . 

While I was growing up in the mid-1950s, my Grandfather's work load had decreased but he was still traveling around to peddle European fashion magazines around São Paulo State and Paraná, which was supposed to be booming financially. He would take sons João, Luiz, Cláudio, nephew José Martins, and sometimes my cousin Nézinho aka Detefon or Jurandyr... to sell what they called 'figurinos', in Paraná. I think José Coelho had gone in one of these trips and decided to move to Paranavaí-PR and work as a taxi driver. He was an impulsive type of person...so he moved there with wife & kids but it didn't take long for him to realize he had done the wrong thing and so he returned to Marília and asked his father-in-law to live with Fernando & Albina. All their children had either married or moved out.  

Ivo João Darin & cousins

Ivo João Darin born on 3rd June 1927, was Giovanni Battista Darin's fourth grandchild. His father Rissieri Darin was my grandfather's oldest living child. He was actually the 2nd child, but as Antonio Americo Darin died still in infancy, Rissieri was assumed as the oldest child. 

Elisa Surian, his mother, was born in Rovigo, Italy and migrated to Brazil with her large family when she was still a child. Elisa became a primary school teacher and as part of her work load had to start teaching at a rural school, which was situated at a plantation near São José do Rio Pardo-SP, owned by my grandfather Gio.Batta. Darin. 

Serra Negra-SP a mountain resort, Ivo & Ruth stayed at their honey-moon on 15 February 1950. 

Ivo & Ruth de Mello's engagement announcement on 30 April 1949, in Santos-SP.  

Nilza Darin, 11 September 1943. 

Nilza Darin at her 17th birthday; offers her portrait to her cousin who lived in Santos.

1. Moacyr Dutra * 3rd July 1924, in SJRP (Maria Darin - 4 children)

2. Dirceu Darin * 1925 in SJRP (Rissieri Darin - 3 children) + 23rd Aug 1926

3. Gecely Dutra * 26 Oct 1926 (Maria Darin)

4. Ivo João Darin * 3rd June 1927 (Rissieri Darin)

5. Nilza Darin * 11 Sept 1927 (Jacomo Darin - 4) + 30 Jan 1947 in Campos do Jordão-SP

6. Zuleide Dutra * 13 Dec 1928 (Maria Darin) in Marília-SP

7. Lilia Terezinha * Feb 1929 (Rissieri Darin) in Marília-SP + 25 Oct 1929

8. Ecydir Darin * 28 Sept 1929 (Jacomo Darin) in Marília-SP

9. Milton Carlos Nogueira * 5 Nov 1929 (America Darin - 2 sons)

10. Beatriz Scarpetti * 13 Jan 1930 (Angela Darin)

 

11. Odyr Darin * 1930 (Jacomo Darin)

12. Betty Scarpetti * 30 Aug 1932 (Angela Darin)

13. Sidney Nogueira * 24 Oct 1932 (America Darin)

14. Zenaide Dutra * 30 Dec 1932 (Maria Darin)

15. Aléssio Scarpetti * 5 May 1934 (Angela Darin)

16. Jurandyr Darin * 12 June 1934 (Jacomo Darin)

17. Vandyr Darin * 5 Sept 1937 (Luiz Darin - 2 children)

18. Ariene Herminia Macera *15 March 1939 (Olympia Darin - 2 children)

19. Wanda Darin * 16 July 1939 (Luiz Darin)

20. Adylson Darin * 4 Sept 1939 (Octavio Darin - 2 children)

21. Aristeu Macera * 26 Jan 1942 (Olympia Darin)

22. Octavio Luiz Darin * 28 Sept 1944 (Octavio Darin)

23. Fernando Antonio Amorim * 19 March 1946 (Yolanda Darin - 5 children)

24. João Baptista Darin * 24 June 1948 (Valdemar Darin - 3 children) in Amparo-SP

25. Luiz Carlos Amorim * 18 May 1949 (Yolanda Darin)

26. Sueli Maria Darin * 19 Dec 1949 (Valdemar Darin) in Amparo-SP

27. José Carlos Batista * 21st Feb 1951 (João Baptista Darin - 3 children)

28. Osvaldo Luiz Amorim * 5 Jan 1953 (Yolanda Darin)

29. Hermínia Maria Batista * 28 Feb 1953 (João Baptista Darin)

30. Nilza Maria Darin * 7 April 1955 (Valdemar Darin) in Amparo-SP

31. Sandra Helena Amorim * 9 Feb 1957 (Yolanda Darin)

32. Rute Maria Amorim * 28 Sept 1962 (Yolanda Darin)

33. Rita de Cassia Batista * 5 June 1963 (João Baptista Darin) 

Maria Lucia Martins in Baurú, in August 1980

 

Dulcinéia Coelho, Sandra Helena, Ivanete & Maria Lúcia in Baurú-SP.

Alberto Luiz Bellini & Maria Lúcia Martins, in 1980. 

Albina Rosa de Jesus cutting her birthday cake on 2nd August 1980.

Rute, Albina, Maria Lúcia & Sandra. 

Günther Karg Jr & Sandra Helena. 

Maria Lúcia in 1960, thirty years earlier. 

Fernando Antonio Amorim & Albina Rosa de Jesus

 

Claudio (7) mounted on a swan; Dulce (9) holds Maria Rosa (1) and Luiz (4) mounts a pony at a Marília photo studio in 1939.

Fernando Antonio Amorim & Albina Rosa de Jesus were married on 2nd February 1918; 

1. José Amorim, born in November 1918, died in infancy of diarrhea;

2. Ana Amorim, born in 1920, died in infancy too;

3. ANTONIA Amorim, born on 26 August 1921, in Ourinhos-SP;

4. JOÃO Amorim, born on 24 September 1923, in Ourinhos-SP;

5. MÁRIO Amorim, born on 26 May 1926, in Ourinhos;

6. DULCE ROZA Amorim, born on 27 August 1929, in Ourinhos;

7. CLÁUDIO Amorim, born on 6 December 1931, in Ourinhos;

8. LUIZ Amorim, born on 16 March 1934, in Marília-SP;

9. MARIA ROSA Amorim, born on 4 March 1938, in Marília-SP.

Day of DEATH of members of the Amorim Family, originally from Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, then moved to Ourinhos-SP in 1920; Marília in 1932 and finally São Paulo-SP in 1960 forward...

1. Placidina Maria Nazareth, died in 1923, in Ourinhos-SP;

2. Florência Rosa de Jesus aka Dindinha, died on 28 November 1949, in Marília;

3. Joaquim Pavão de Oliveira aka Quincas, died on 11 August 1951, in Marília;

4. Chica aka Virgilina Maria Nazareth, died on 5 January 1952, in Marília;

5. Emília Nazareth aka Tia Nenê, died on 23rd December 1955;

6. Margarida Rosa de Jesus, died on 30 April 1966, in Marília;

7. Fernando Antonio Amorim aka Murim, died on 3rd February 1969, in Marília; 

8. Mario Amorim, died on 4 March 1971, in São Paulo;

9. João Pavão de Oliveira, died on 24 November 1978, in Marília-SP;

10. Anna Rosa de Jesus, died on 19 August 1981, in Ourinhos;

11. Albina Rosa de Jesus aka Altina, died on 5 March 1984, in Marília;

12. Virgílio Amorim, died on 4 September 1986;

13. João Amorim, died on 14 March 1987, in São Paulo;

14. Cláudio Amorim, died on 24 November 1993, in São Paulo;

15. Francisca Oliveira, died on 23rd May 1994, in São Paulo;

16. Regina Célia Amorim, died on 2nd January 1997, in São Paulo;

17. Arthur Bellini, died on 18 May 1997, in Marília;

18. Yolanda Darin, died on 13 February 2006, in São Paulo;

19. Nadir Martins, died on 29 July 2009, in Baurú-SP;

20. Luiz Antonio Amorim, died on 30 August 2009, in Marília;

21. Maria Rosa Amorim Bellini, died on 2nd November 2012, in Marília;

22. Luiz Amorim, died on 21st August 2013, in Marília;

23. Alberto Luiz Bellini, died on 11 April 2015, in Marília; 

24. Paulo Cesar Coelho, died on 22nd January 2021, in Guarujá-SP;

25. Dulce Roza Amorim, died on 30 January 2021, in São Paulo;

26. José Martins, died on 7 January 2022, in Lençois Paulistas-SP;

Albina Rosa de Jesus aka Altina at Cemitério da Saudade, in  Marília.

Maria Rosa at the same grave a few years later; Rosângela is seen at the background. 

Marília-SP.

Cotia-SP.

José Martins (1926-2022) & Maria das Dores Vital

José Martins (19), José de Oliveira (21) & Mario Amorim (20) in 1945.  

As we have seen in earlier posts:

Jacinto Antonio Amorim & Placidina Maria Nazareth had at least 9 children:

1. João Amorim

2. Maria Nazareth

3. Adelina Nazareth

4. Firmino Amorim aka Danga

5. Joaquim Amorim (died when only 2 years old)

6. Aspasia Nazareth (accidentally electrocuted)

7. Emília Maria Nazareth aka Tia Nenê (1889)

8. Fernando Antonio Amorim (1895)

9. Virgílio Amorim 

Emília Maria Nazareth had two daughters from different men

1. Catarina Nazareth 

2. Virgilina Nazareth aka Chica

Catarina Nazareth, not yet 17, married Domingos Martins (22) on 12 January 1925, in Ourinhos. Martins was born in Ribeirão Preto-SP, in 1903; his father Christovam Martins and mother Rosalia Lopes hailed from Málaga, Spain. Catarina & Domingos had 5 children: 

1. José Martins (* 23rd July 1926  + 7 January 2022, in Lençois Paulista-SP)

2. Nair Martins 

3. Francisca Martins

4. Nadir Martins (* 19 July 1937 + 29 July 2009)

5. João Martins (1939) adopted by Virgilio Amorim and renamed João Amorim.

After Catarina Nazareth's untimely death at the age of 33, in 1941, Domingos who was 38 years old simply went away and abandoned all his children to the care of his mother-in-law Emília Maria Nazareth and her brothers Fernando and Virgílio. Domingos ended up marrying a Maria da Glória Gonzaga from Tarumã-SP and they had 4 daughters: Natália, Aparecida, Aldevina e Rita. 

Zé was raised by his grandmother Emília (Tia Nenê). After Catarina gave birth to Nair, in 1929, Zé was weaned and given to Emília, who lived with Chica, her youngest daughter. In 1932, Chica married a Black ex-soldier called Gilberto, they used to call 'Geriberto'. As Fernando Amorim moved to Marília with his family, Chica, her new husband Gilberto, her mother Emília and grandson Zé Martins went to work at a coffee plantation in Ribeirão Claro-PR, just across Paranapanema River. 

Ribeirão Claro-PR just across the wide Paranapanema River, where Zé Martins, his grandmother Emília, aunt Chica & her husband Gilberto went to work as labourers in 1932. 

José Martins in 1950, in Marília.

When Zé Martins was 22 years old, he met and married Maria das Dores Vidal aka Dorinha.

José Martins weds Maria das Dores Vital, born in Marília, on 19 April 1932; Her father was Miguel Vital and Maria Rosa Pereira, known as dona Rosa, her mother. Miguel & Rosa had:

1. Geny Vital, who died from a weak heart in her early 30s.

2. Nércio, born on 17 August 1930; died on 30 April 1961; 

3. Ernestina, went away and returned only 20 years later; 

4. Maria da Dores aka Dorinha born on 19 April 1932; jumped off a train on 28 January 1975;

5. Luzia Pereira, was born in 1948 or 1949; Luzia's father was not Miguel, hence her different surname. Luzia was nursed by dona Rosa who also nursed her granddaughter Maria Lúcia Martins.

Zé Martins weds Dorinha; the bride's baby sister Luzia Pereira is he flower girl. 

José Martins died on 7 January 2022, at 23:45 hours in a Hospital in Lençois Paulista-SP, where he had been living with his daughter Marta Martins for a few years since they both gave up living in the over-crowed São Paulo. 

Sofria de cancer de próstata ha alguns anos. Na reta final teve paralisia renal e finalmente, colapso dos pulmões. Zé tinha 95 anos, tendo sido o membro dessa Família que viveu mais. Só Antonia Amorim, que fêz 100 anos em 26 August 2021, viveu mais. 

Maria Lucia dressed up as an Angel, in June 1951, when she was 16 months old.

Maria Lucia Martins, 3o ano do Grupo Escolar Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga, Marília, 1960.

This scrap of paper with names of the Pereira, Vital and other families related to Maria das Doris Vital, Maria Lucia Martins's mother - was found among the things left by my aunt Rosa Darin, after she died in 1995. As Rosa lived opposite the house where some of Dorinha's relatives lived on Rua 9 de Julho, next to Rua Bom Fim, in Marília, I guess someone belonging to one of those families made a point of writing down their names as a matter of discerning who was who. 

In a conversation I had with Maria Lucia Martins on 26 December 2024, she went through this list and pointed out who she still remembers:

1. Belarmino Pereira was one of Maria Rosa Pereira's brothers. He worked as a grave digger at Marilia's Cemitério da Saudade. 

2. Brasilina Pereira was dona Rosa's sister. She was relatively well-off.

3. Maria Antônia de Jesus Pereira is possibly dona Rosa's mother.

4. Nelson Vital

5. Miguel Vital married Maria Rosa Pereira and had a few children; 

6. Aparecida de Freitas; 

7. Maria Vieira dos Santos;

8. Zeferina Soares da Cruz;

9. Marta Marques.

left, Dorinha in the 1960s; right: Dorinha on 30 April 1973, two years before her untimely death. 

Maria Lucia & Dorinha, her mother Maria das Dores Vital, in Marília-SP, in 1971.

Maria Lucia in the 1960s; Celso, her boy-friend circa 1962. 

Edna Tsutsui on 4 February 1964; Marinalva around the same time. 

Maria Aparecida Martins, Lucia's half-aunt from Tarumã-SP, on 20 July 1983.

Talking about Cida Martins, we should now talk about this branch of the Martins Family who lived in Tarumã-SP, a town near Assis and Cândido Mota, not far from Paranapanema River which is the boarder between São Paulo and Paraná.

Domingos Martins ended up marrying Maria da Glória Gonzaga in Tarumã-SP and they had 4 daughters: 

1. Maria Natália Martins, born in 1942, (had daughters Adriana & Ida); 

2. Maria Aparecida Martins, born on 6 September1948; 

3. Aldevina Martins 

4. Maria Rita Martins.

In 1951, Domingos Martins who was 48 then, actually exactly 10 years after he had left his 5 children with Catarina Nazareth, fatherless in Avaré, up and went AWOL again. Now, he abandoned wife Glória and 4 daughters who ended up being raised by their  tireless mother. 

Tarumã at the centre of the map not far from Paranapanema River on the south, Marília on northeast, Ourinhos slightly northeast and Londrina-PR crossing the boarder into Paraná State. 

Maria Lucia at our house in Rio Pequeno, in 1977. 

Luiz Carlos & Maria Lucia in 1977. 

João Amorim, Osvaldo, Yolanda Darin, Clelia Hiroko Myiadara, Maria Lúcia, Rute, Sandra & Fernando in 1978.

Marília graveyard

 

Marília's Cemitério da Saudade.

This is an early shot of Marília's Cemiterio da Saudade built in the outskirts of town in the mid-1920s. My grandfather Giovanni Battista Darin arrived in Marilia with his family in November 1927. Less than a year later on 20th September 1928, his brother Francesco Darin (52) died and was buried near the main gate which shows prominently on the photo. Toni Darin's toddler Antonio Darin Filho died on 20 September 1929 and then Elisa & Rissieri Darin's only daughter Lilia Therezinha died a month later on 25 October 1929 and were all buried in the same grave near the main entrance.

Part of the Darin family was really scared of so many deaths in so short a time and decided to go back to São José do Rio Pardo where they had come from about 2 years before and the graves were left unattended.

In the 1940s the local Council (Prefeitura) built a new brick wall around the Cemetery and those graves near the entrance were either transfered or simply destroyed with the remaining bones being taken and thrown into a common grave they called 'Cruzeiro' (Crosses). At Dia-dos-Finados (All Souls' Day) on 2nd November people usually light candles near this mass-grave that burn the whole day. The grave-yard management makes sure the fire is put out before they close down at the end of the day.

Every time I visited Marília in the 1990s, I would pay a visit to Cemitério da Saudade. Actually, aunt Rosa Darin would attend a Catholic Mass on Mondays at 2:00 pm, so I made a habit of walking from her abode on Rua 9 de Julho, 2008, up to the Graveyard every week. After Mass, Rosa and I would wander through the lanes and I would ask all sorts of questions about the graves we passed by. I made a point of taking paper and pencil to jot down names and dates of those I had the chance to know during their lifetime or people who lived and died before I was born or too young to know better. Here are some of the notes I took during those pleasant visits:

Gesuína F. de Souza (*4 January 1900 + 12 November 1987) at the same grave Q 57; 159; Sebastião L. Ribeiro (*18 August 1918 + 18 December 1955) who was married to dona Gesuína's daughter Sebastiana, who worked at the waiting room (sala de espera) of Companhia Paulista de Estrada de Ferro after her husband died prematurely at 37. 

Sebastiana de Souza & her mother Gesuína F. de Souza plus Pedro and Paulo, moved to Rua Mato Grosso, some time after their father's untimely death, in early 1956. Pedro was probably one year older than myself (1948) and Paulo, probably one year younger than I (1950). Both were nice kids. I remember a few years later, maybe 1959, Pedro had to go to hospital to have an operation. I don't know what was his problem... but I remember I became really sad when I heard the news for I thought he might die. While Pedro was in hospital, I listened to Giselle Galo's 'Le Lac de Côme', played by the orchestra of Frank Pourcel, from an Odeon extended-play my Father had and almost cried. A few days later, Pedro was back on Rua Mato Grosso alive and kicking. I never forget this particular moment. 

Fernando, my older brother used to be friends with Jurandir, a boy 2 years older than he who lived in that wooden house that dona Gesuína would occupy later. Jurandir lived with an older sister called Iraí, who was married to a barber and had a baby. 

We moved into a house on Rua Mato Grosso, in 1954. After Antonia Amorim married Günther Karg, on 4 July 1953, and went on living in Baurú (she worked as a telephone operator for Companhia Telefônica, a Canadian utility company). Up until then we had all lived at a house on Rua Rodrigues Alves owned by my grandfather Fernando Amorim. Our grandfather was annoyed with the neighbours who had been living in the area since back when that was part of Marília's red-light district. Since Antonia had left home to go to live in Baurú, he planned to sell the house and move out.

São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ (now known as Pentagna-RJ)

 

Church of São Sebastião do Rio Bonito; the town is now known as Pentagna-RJ.

As one can see, São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ, now known as Pentagna-RJ is not far from Rio Bonito-MG on the North side and Valença-RJ on the South side... 

A wider map of the Rio de Janeiro State where my paternal grand-parents came from. One can see Pentagna-RJ formerly known as São Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ near the board of Rio de Janeiro-Minas Gerais. One can also see Volta Redonda-RJ which became an industrial region during Getúlio Vargas' period (1930-1945) plus Barra Mansa-RJ and Barra do Piraí-RJ. Further south one can see Baixada Fluminense with Nova Iguaçú-RJ, Duque de Caxias-RJ and Baía da Guanabara... a little further North there are Petrópolis-RJ and Teresópolis-RJ.