Rua Rio Grande do Sul, 390...circa 1945

from left to right front row and then anti-clockwise: Francisca de Oliveira, Antonia Amorim, Petra, Altina Rosa de Jesus; Nadir Martins, Nair Martins, Maria Rosa Amorim and non-identified girl.

According to a conversation I had over the telephone with aunt Dulce Roza Amorim Coelho on 12 January 2017 - the story goes:

As pessoas desta foto, começando com as que estão em pé, da esquerda p'ra direita: a criança primeira eu não conheço; a segunda é a Maria Rosa; a próxima é a Nair Martins, irmã do Zé Martins, e a outra é a Nadir Martins, minha querida irmã-de-criação. 

Na fileira da frente vem a Francisca de Oliveira, a Antonia Amorim, e vem a Petra, colega da Antonia, filha da espanhola dona Mateia e, finalmente, minha Mãe, Altina Rosa de Jesus. A foto foi batida em frente de nossa casa na Rua Rio Grande do Sul, 390.

Nair Martins & Nadir Martins

Nair & Nadir were sisters. Their mother Catharina Maria Nazareth died in 1941, when she was only 33 years old and left 5 children of various ages that were taken away by strangers to be raised in some rural property near Ourinhos or Avaré-SP.

Catharina was one of my grandfather Fernando Antonio Amorim's sister Emilia Maria Nazareth's two daughters - the other was called Francisca Maria Nazareth aka Chica.

Catharina married Domingos Martins when she was 17 years old and they had 5 children:

José Martins - 10 September 1926
Nair Martins - born circa 1928
Francisca Martins
Nadir Martins - 19 July 1937
João Amorim - who was registered as Virgilio Amorim's son.

After Catharina's death, Domingos simply up & left his children never to return. So the kids were scattered around rural properties (sitios). Zé Martins who was 14 years old and could fend for himself went to Marilia and stayed with his grandmother Emilia known in the family as Tia Nenê.

After some time, a man visiting Marilia told Fernando Amorim that he had been to a 'sitio' where he saw those children being abused and in a precarious situation. Fernando went to the rural property and took all of them back to Ourinhos. Fernando asked his younger brother Virgilio Amorim - who always wanted to have a baby boy but had only daughters - to take João Martins, Catharina's youngest child and register him as João Amorim. So João Martins became João Amorim.

Then, Fernando took Nair and Nadir Martins - who was only 2 years old - to be raised as his own children in Marilia. Nair was already a young lady of 13 who could not read or write. Fernando paid a woman to teach the girl the ABC but Nair never quite adapted to her new home.

Nair had the habit of lying through her teeth. Fernando thought it a most disagreeable feature and told her if she continued this practice he would have to let her go. Fernando would take her back to Ourinhos where they spotted Domingos Martins who had remarried and had a brand-new family.

By that time Dulce Amorim (14) and Nair Martins (15) were working at Fiação Macú, all the way on Rua São Luiz next to Vila São Miguel - where they handled silk cocoons in boiling vats to extract the silk threads that would be rolled into reels to be sent somewhere else to be turned into fabric. Dulce says Nair would not show up for work for days on end and when Fernando would query her she simply gave the most outrageous lies as an answer.

Fernando thought he was going nowhere with Nair and as he had warned took her back to Ourinhos and left her with her father Domingos and his new family. It didn't take long for Nair to get married to Joaquim Maciel and have many children.

It seems Nair didn't hold any grudge against Fernando Amorim's family. Dulce says Nair would write letters from Ourinhos even after she got married maybe just to enjoy the power of being able to communicate through paper and pen. After all, she was literate only because she had lived under the guidance of her great-uncle. 

Death of Dindinha aka Florência Rosa de Jesus on 28 November 1949, according to Dulce Roza Amorim who told the whole story to Luiz Carlos Amorim, her nephew. 

It was in the morning of 28 November 1949, approximately 10:30 in the morning. Maria Rosa ainda estava em aula no Grupo Escolar Thomaz Antonio Gonzaga na esquina da rua Pedro de Toledo com a rua Rio Grande do Sul. Quando Maria Rosa chegou do Grupo abriu o maior berreiro pois sua avó tinha morrido.  

Dindinha (*11 March 1869 +28 November 1949) estava muito mal na cama já. Ela vivia com sua filha favorita, (tia) Margarida e o companheiro dela, Domiciano mais conhecido como 'Cearense'. Eles viviam em extrema miséria e a certa altura Vovô Fernando propôs que Dindinha viesse morar na casa da filha Albina. Florência só concordaria se Margarida também viesse, mas essa sustentava o Cearense, coisa que Fernando desaprovava determinantemente. Mesmo assim, me parece que Dindinha foi passar os ultimos dias de sua vida na casa de Albina & Fernando. 

Dindinha já estava em seu leito de morte num quarto da casa de Fernando & Albina na rua Rio Grande do Sul, 390. Muito ofegante, respirava com dificuldade mas não tirava os olhos da porta de entrada, na vã esperança de ver sua queridinha Margarida entrar. Todos sabiam que Dindinha só morreria depois de ver Margarida. Vendo que a agonia era muito grande, Albina junto com sua filha Dulce pegaram alguns grãos de uva, tiraram as sementes, amassaram a polpa até formar uma massa; puseram numa colher e levaram à boca de Dindinha, que depois de algumas colheradas parou, respirou profundamente e morreu. Morreu sem ver a Margarida que chegou meia hora depois.    

Beatriz Scarpetti weds Francisco de Almeida 1959

1959 was a momentous year for the Darin family. When Marco Giovanni Battista Da Rin Zoldan aka João Baptista Darin, 87 years old, died of natural causes on 28 August 1959, her grand-daughter Beatriz Scarpetti who had aldready set her wedding date for 17 December 1959 thought she would have to cancel it. But the 'aunties' - her mother Angela Darin's sisters wouldn't hear of it and told Bia to go ahead with her plans so the wedding date was confirmed even though most of the female members of the Darin family were still wearing Black as mourning for the Patriarch. So here are some photos of Bia's wedding Chico on a Wednesday afternoon at Santo Antonio's church. 

Beatriz Scarpetti enters Santo Antonio's main isle with her brother Alecio Scarpetti being led by a very circumspect Herminia Maria Batista as the flower-girl.

Alecio gives his sister Beatriz away to her future husband Francisco de Almeida.

the newly-weds leave the altar towards the church front-door... Herminia keeps her face unmoved all the time...

Beatriz & Chiquinho; Herminia's ordeal is almost at an end...

Beatriz & Chico already man & wife; Alecio Scarpetti & his wife Maria Puerta on the right.

look who's all alone by the table with the wedding cake - on the right-hand-side... yes, Herminia, the flower-girl.

here's Beatriz in an earlier photo with her future flower-girl, Herminia Maria Batista.

some comments by FB users about Francisco de Almeida;

Corbi Bragas writes on 24 November 2016: casamento do Chiquinho de Almeida da Farmácia da rua Coronel Galdino de Almeida (sem parentesco), antiga rua Barão de Bananal; ficava próxima à Retificadora Marília. O Chiquinho costurou minha cabeça rachada, rs.

Nelson Fukai writes: Tomei muita injeção na Farmácia do Chiquinho. Um morenão forte era o responsável pelas aplicações e era xingado muito pela criançada. A farmácia era vizinha do Bar do Barbosa, onde chorões se reuniam no final da tarde para se divertirem tocando Pixinguinha, Waldyr de Azevedo, Jacob do Bandolim, entre outros. Mas o 'Brabo', do ferro-velho que tinha do outro lado da rua, não era muito a fim. Afinal, o sobrinho era um dos membros dos Sentimental Boys.

Regina Aparecida Perpétuo writes: Nelson Fukai brindando-nos sua excelente memória. Ai vai foto dos Sentimental Boys. O Brabo é o que toca acordeon. Não sei se é o Nilson ou Nivaldo. E a preferencia do morador da frente era sertaneja. 
Nelson Fukai: o Brabo da orquestra, acho, que morava na rua 24 de Dezembro entre a Cel. Galdino e a Avenida Rio Branco.

from left to right: Beatriz Scarpetti holds Julio Cesar, her 2nd child; Fernando Euflasino who was Chico's cousin; Francisco Jose, Bia's 1st son; Mario Roberto de Almeida, Beatriz's brother-in-law. Photo taken in front of the house Bia shared with husband Chico on Rua Bom Fim next to Rua Coronel Galdino de Almeida; circa 1966.

Maria Lucia G. Sinhorini writes on FB: Chico had many siblings: Cida, Kalu, Luiz (casou com Sueli) e Mario Roberto (Sansão). My mother was Chico's mother's sister, tia Maria. 

My Mother married twice; my father Gonçalves was her 1st husband; then she became a widow and married again and had Fernando Euflasino, who died of a motorcycle accident when he was only 21 years old in 1983. 

Chico plays his beloved guitar during a birthday celebration; Beatriz sings along and looks at the camera; the blonde boy looks like Francisco José. This photo was kindly supplied to me by Maria Luci G. Sinhorini. 

Beatriz Scarpetti at her flat in Central Park, Lapa, on 4 October 2012, a few weeks before she had a stroke a couple of days after Christmas 2012.

Ramiro Ribeiro 1938-1977

Ramiro Ribeiro was born in Marilia on 4 March 1938. According to records I found at Santo Antonio's vestry he was baptized as Romiro Ribeiro on 29 May 1938, having Jose dos Santos as godfather and Ana Amelia as godmother. Ramiro was known almost universally as Ramilo. Maybe because illiterate people would think that Ramiro was mispelt and decided to 'correct' what was actually right. So RAMILO it turned out to be. 

Ramilo's mother Joana Ribeiro eventually married Joaquim Pavão de Oliveira aka as Quincas, who was my grandmother's Albina Rosa de Jesus's brother. 

Albina Rosa de Jesus came from a large family in Sao Sebastião do Rio Bonito-RJ (now it is called Pentagna) and when she married Fernando Antonio Amorim, they moved to Ourinhos-SP in 1918, fleeing the Asian flu aka Spanish flu that had spread world-wide during the demobilization of troops that killed each other in Europe between 1914 and 1918.

Albina's baby sister Margarida and younger brother Quincas also made the trip to Ourinhos-SP and by 1933 everyone had re-located to Marilia where they lived in various places.

Quincas died on 11 August 1951, when he was only 43 years old and left Joana and Ramilo grieving. 

Ramilo was 13 years old then. Mother & son shared a wooden-house on Rua Lima e Costa, 1075, with Margarida and her de-facto husband Domiciano, a half-breed from Ceará.

I remember visiting our second aunt Margarida (who was really my father João's aunt) in her shack on Rua Lima e Costa and then go around into the back of the lot to visit Joana who lived 'parede-meia'. They were all very poor but very friendly. My Mother always took some gifts and we sat down on tia Margarida's double-bed to talk. Margarida was a really thin woman, smoked straw cigarettes and had a funny laughter which mingled with her constant cough. 

This was circa 1958 and Ramilo, who was 20 years old, was working as a shop assistant at Livraria Brazil, a great stationary place on Avenida Sampaio Vidal, just past Rua 9 de Julho, on the left-hand side of one going towards Paço Municipal (read further account below the photos).  

Ramiro Ribeiro at Saint Anthony's vestry in 1957. Fernando Guarda is the priest at the centre.

Ramiro Ribeiro as an altar-boy at Santo Antonio circa 1957.

altar boys leading the procession down Avenida Sampaio Vidal. 

Ramiro swinging the chacoal incense holder (turíbulo) - keeps on going ahead until they would reach Sao Bento's cathedral. 

Suddenly, in December 1960, when I was 11 years old, we left Marilia and moved to Sao Paulo. I never saw those extended-family relatives anymore. I visited Marilia in 1963, but there was no time to see everyone. 

Joana Ribeiro died in 1964. Two years later, on 30 April 1966, tia Margarida died in a hospital so that family nucleus made up of 4 people - Joana, Ramiro, Margarida & Domiciano - came to an end. 

Not long after Joana's death or even before she died, Ramiro found work at DER - Departamento de Estrada de Rodagem - a government agency and moved to Sao Paulo. I remember meeting Ramiro by mere chance at the lobby of Cine Ipiranga on a Sunday afternoon circa 1964 or 1965 when that area was still up-market. He was always friendly sporting a big smile. We did some small talk and I went my way.  

Actually, not long before Joana died she had adopted a boy they called Luiz Carlos and when Ramiro moved to Sao Paulo, he brought the boy along and raised him as his own son. From what I remember, Ramiro shared a place with Nercidio Silva, a friend of his from Marilia who also worked for DER. 

In the mid 1970s, I couldn't precise the year, Ramiro went missing. He wouldn't show up at his work, he wouldn't come home to the place in Osasco-SP, he shared with Nercidio and Luiz Carlos. 

After a week or so, Nercidio was notified by the Police to identify a body that had been found drowned in a river or stream. He asked my aunt Dulce Roza Amorim Coelho to go with him to the IML (Forensic Medicine Centre) in Osasco-SP. Dulce told me the body was bloated and in an advanced state of putrefaction. It was difficult to say whether it was Ramiro's body... Nercidio said that the green short was the same Ramiro wore the last time he'd seen him... and Dulce said she noticed that the body was in a certain position that she recognized as being Ramiro's typical body language. Even though they were not a 100% sure they thought it HAD to be Ramiro's body... And they must have been right because Ramiro never came back.

it's a tiny photo but one can see Ramiro croching on the left... at Mario Amorim's wedding at Santo Antonio's on 27 July 1958. The smiling boy in the foreground is my brother Fernando Amorim. 

here's Ramiro inside Santo Antonio's attending Mario Amorim's wedding to Edes Garbellini; the boy on the left is my brother Fernando Antonio Amorim; my Mother Yolanda is in the background holding Sandra Helena who was only 1 and a half year old. 

outside Santo Antonio's after Mario Amorim's wedding on 27 July 1958; João Pavão is standing on the right - wearing white trousers; the man in the back wearing hat is Virgilio Amorim who came all the way from Ourinhos-SP to see the wedding of his nephew; next to Virgilio is Domiciano who was married to Margarida Rosa de Jesus, my Grandmother's sister; the next man is Günther Karg, married to Antonia Amorim; crouching from left to right is Paulo Cesar de Oliveira also from Ourinhos-SP and João Amorim, my dearest father.  

Edes Garbellini kisses her father's hand while in the background Domiciano & Margarida Rosa de Jesus watch - 27 July 1958.

Joana Ribeiro, Ramiro Ribeiro & Joaquim Pavão aka Quincas circa 1940. 

Joaquim Pavão in the 1930s. One can but see his features were similar to his sister Albina. 

Nercidio aka Nelson & Ramiro aka Ramilo at Nelson's house in Marília-SP circa 1980. They both left Marilia together in the late 1960s to try a new life in São Paulo. They worked at some road building government company most of the time. After working for more than 10 years, Nelson decided to go back to Marilia where he married and set up home. Ramiro stayed back in São Paulo and probably had been drinking more than usual. 

Ramiro was still working at this road-construction company when he didn't show up to work anymore. After some time, the police found a dead body at Rio Pinheiros. My aunt Dulce Roza Amorim Coelho was summoned to recognize the body as being Ramiro's. I talked to her and she said she wasn't sure about the true identity of the cadaver because it was in an advanced state of putrefaction... but as the body's height was more or less the same as Ramiro everyone agreed that had been Ramiro's body. 

Luiz Carlos Ribeiro watches Maria Lucia Martins' antics at my grandmother's Albina Rosa de Jesus' 80th birthday party on 2nd August 1980.

clockwise from top Regina Celia Amorim, Luiz Carlos Ribeiro, Sandra Helena Amorim & Claudia Amorim.

Rua Campos Salles, 350 Marília-SP

my second-cousin Paulo Roberto Camargo, his sister Mariângela and their aunt Beatriz Scarpetti having my grandfather Giovanni Battista Darin's house in the background. The original wooden house was torn down circa 1934 and a brick house was built circa 1949.

Beatriz holds her niece Mariângela Camargo & her cousin Herminia Maria Batista; the boys are her nephew Paulo Roberto Camargo and cousin José Carlos Batista.

Paulo Roberto Camargo, Marco Giovanni Battista Da Rin Zoldan & Mariangela Camargo...

Beatriz Scarpetti resting on the stoop that leads to the causeway which connected my Grandfather's porch with the street gate. See the lamplight in the background. 

Paulo Roberto at the back yard of the house on Rua Campos Salles, 350. See the picket fence that divided my Grandfather's house from the house next door which was still made out of wood. 

In the backyard circa 1952: Rosa Darin, Angela Darin holds her grandson Paulo Roberto Camargo, Edson Scarpetti looks on from behind - between Paulo & Angela; Betty Scarpetti Camargo & Beatriz Scarpetti.

 Bia and some friends of hers... mind you, this is not Rua Campos Salles... 

Betty Scarpetti Camargo died on 10 November 2022, at 10:00 am. Her remains were buried on the same day at 5:00 pm. She was 90 years old. Betty was among the Darin-Scarpetti family who lived the most years. Maybe Salvatore Scarpetti, her paternal grandfather, lived longer than her.

Rua Campos Salles, 350 

i

ROSA DARIN's religious articles

Rosa Darin (1915-1996) was a very religious lady. She was born in São José do Rio Pardo-SP and moved to Alto-Cafezal-Marília in November 1927 when she was only 12 years old. 

As the Darin Family always lived on the Alto Cafezal side of town, Rosa used to go to church at Santo Antonio's in its various phases. 

Here are some religious articles Rosa left when she died in 1996.

Prefeitura de Marilia

Prefeitura de Marilia on the corner of Rua 9 de Julho and Rua Sao Luiz. It was built in the early 1930s. My grandfather Giovanni Battista Da Rin Zoldan had a mixed-business shop named Casa Riopardense on the very spot which he had opened in early 1928. The business went bankrupt due to my Grand-dad's naïveté in believing he could sell by credit.  Customers would take merchandise and never paid back. Mr. Darin who was born in Belluno, Italy in 1871, arrived in Brazil in 1888 and lived most of his life as a farmer in São José do Rio Pardo-SP. He was not definetely cut out to be a businessman. 

He made a little capital and at the age of 56 he thought he'd start a new life as a small business man and moved to Alto-Cafezal-Marilia in November 1927. He'd should've known better than enter a new medium at such a late age. 

After that he worked as a book-keeping man for a few sound business men in Marilia and found means to support his large family for 32 years until his death in 1959.

Rua 9 de Julho with Paço Municipal on the left-hand side and Hotel Lider on the right looking toward Avenida Sampaio Vidal. 

On the left-hand side half-block, is Antonio Hideharu Nakagawa's Farmácia Marília; Hotel Líder takes almost the whole block on the right-hand side.

A Predilecta, lottery shop started in the late 1930s on the corner of rua 9 de Julho and rua 4 de Abril.

Claudio Amorim 1934 - 1993 (uncle)

Claudio Amorim, born on 6 December 1931, in Ourinhos-SP. 

Claudio Amorim's 'Carteira de Saúde' (Health book) issued on 11 June 1947; Claudio lived on Avenida Rio Claro, 69, Marília-SP; on the right Claudio's 'Carteira de Trabalho' (Worker's book) shows he started working at Hospital Maríla S.A. as a nurse-assistant on 1st January 1958, having left the job 3 months later on 31st March 1958. 

My Mother had 6 brothers & 5 sisters; my Father had 3 brothers & 3 sisters, so I ended up having 9 uncles and 8 aunts. Most married and had children too. I had a large family. From my Mother's side uncles & aunts were older people for she had been the baby daugher. On my Father's side they were younger for he was only the 2nd oldest. From all my 9 uncles, Claudio Amorim was # 7 and perhaps the one I had most contact with for a variety of reasons. 

1958 is the farthest back in time I remember uncle Claudio Amorim, when he lived with his wife Francisca and their 4 children in Lácio-SP, a town 8 km east of Marília. He probably lived there for rents must have been lower in the outskirts. One day I went to Lácio with him. He probably needed to fetch something at home and took his 9 year nephew along. It didn't take long for Claudio & his family to move back to Marília, to live on the small wooden house built on the backyard of aunt Dulce's brick house on Avenida Independência between rua Mato Grosso & rua Inconfidência. 

Claudio & his family must have lived in that small house for a few weeks for before 1958 was out they said goodbye and moved to São Paulo, where his brother Mario Amorim worked as a social worker at Hospital das Clinicas and managed to find Claudio employment at that hospital. 

I remember the day Claudio & family left Marília to move to São Paulo, 500 km east. It must have been September 1958, for Reinaldo, their fourth child had been born on 18 May 1958, was still a baby being carried in his mother's arms when they all walked past our house on Rua Mato Grosso, 393, on their way to Marília railway station to get the 7:00 o'clock evening train to São Paulo. Aunt Francisca waved goodbye to my Mother and us all who were at the balcony. 

It would be more than 2 years the next time I would see them again. My own family finally moved to São Paulo on 16 December 1960. My father with Dulce's husband José Coelho, had already moved there circa May 1960. Father & Zé Coelho rented a small place on Rua da Consolação where they set up a shoe repair shop while we waited in Marília until the school year was through for us to join them there. 

We went to live at Rua Simpatia, 42, in Vila Madalena. The very first week we were in the new house, Claudio showed up after work and took me with him to Rua Iperó, 11-A, where he lived with Francisca (29), Claudinho (8), Claudete (5), Jacinto (4) and Reinaldo (2). Francisca had yet another pregnancy while living in Vila Madalena but the baby-girl was still-born on 22nd November 1959.  

I still remember that particular day for Claudio and I walked up rua Simpatia all the way until we reached rua João Moura, turned left, went past rua Madalena and turned the next street which was rua Iperó and got to his place which was actually a bedroom with a double-bed, one bunkbed and a small kitchen. Claudio and family wouldn't live too much longer in Vila Madelena, for he had bought a lot in far-away Rio Pequeno where he planned to build a house so he didn't have to pay rent any more.

Vila Madalena-Pinheiros region: we lived on Rua Simpatia, 42; so to get to Uncle Claudio's place we went up rua Simpatia until we got to Rua João Moura, turned left, went past Rua Madalena, turned left the next street which was Rua Iperó, walked up some 100 metres and got to his little house. The irony of it all was that Uncle Mário (Claudio's older brother) lived at the beginning of Rua João Moura but on the other side of a great hill one could not cross. Much later circa 1964, aunt Dulce & family  moved up from Rua Girassol, next to São Paulo Cemetery to Rua Girassol corner with Rua Rodésia which was not far from Rua Iperó. 

5 March 1961 - I'm not sure the exact day I went to see Cecil B. de Mile's 'The Ten Commandments' at Cine Boulevard, but it was around this time. It could have been late January or early February. My uncle Claudio, who worked the night shift at the orthopaedic section of Hospital das Clínicas dropped by us and asked me if I wanted to go and see it. I jumped at the idea of going to the pictures in São Paulo, for I had just moved in from Marília-SP in late December 1960, and had never had the chance to visit any movie theatre in the big city. 

Little did I know that day will stay in my memory until the day I die. We took the Praça Ramos de Azevedo tram car # 28 in front of Padaria Novera at the corner of Rua Fradique Coutinho & Rua Aspicuelta and off we went downtown. I still looked at São Paulo's skyline with awe when we got off the tram at the final stop next to the imposing Theatro Municipal.  

I felt Uncle Claudio was proud to know how to move easily in such a tumultous city as São Paulo, having only been living here for 2 years. We walked down rua Conselheiro Crispiniano, crossed Largo do Paisandú into rua Antonio de Godoy where dazzling Cine Boulevard was, having been opened in 1958, so it was less than 3 years old. I think we went to the 12:30 session. It lasted 4 hours including an intermission and when we left the cinema at 4:30 pm I was walking on clouds bedazzled by the enormity of the spectacle.

From that day on I found out São Paulo had a world of wonders concentrated in the its centre. There were countless cinema houses on the axis of Avenida São João and Avenida Ipiranga. In Rio de Janeiro they called it 'Cinelândia' (Land of Cinema) but in São Paulo they didn't bother to find a name for it. Sooner than later, I made a point of watching at least one major movie a week there. It was a pleasure to walk downtown streets looking at cinema's boards announcing next attractions.   

Three months after I had seen 'The 10 Commandments', uncle Claudio had some news for me. He found me employment at a laboratory on on the 2nd floor of a medium-sized building on Rua Theodoro Sampaio, 2112. It was a small private lab owned by doctor Flávio da Silveira Miranda, a scion of a Paulista family who never hit the big time but liked to be independent. He needed a boy to wash glassware used in the preparations of tests of blood, urine & faeces. Not a very healthy job for a 12 year boy. I started working for Laboratório Universal on 28 June 1961. At first it was only  part-time, from 2:00 pm to 5:30 pm. I used to go to night school at Ginásio da Vila Madalena, on Rua Morás (it can be seen at the above map below at the extreme left. I worked part-time in 1961, 1962 and 1963. From 1964 to 1967 I worked full time.

Around 1961 & 1962, uncle Claudio used to show up at Laboratório for he was the one who collected blood for tests. He stayed there for a couple of hours and only in the morning shift so I hardly ever saw him. Claudio taught Luiz Antonio Signore, a tall boy 1 year older than I to collect blood so after 1963, Claudio was out of his morning job. But I don't think he cared much for he was in the process of building his house in Rio Pequeno, so he needed time to help bricklayers to put up the house. 

Sometime in 1962, Claudio took me on another memorable trip. This time we took a bus on Rua Paes Leme next to Largo de Pinheiros and went all the way to Rio Pequeno, some 12 km away. I remember the year for the song that was playing then was 'As folhas verdes de verão' (The green leaves of summer) sung by Wilma Bentivegna (written by Dimitri Tionkin for the sound-track of 'Alamo'). 

The house where they lived was made out of wood, there was a deep water well where they got the water they needed by pumping it with a bucket attached to a long rope. The area was bare of resources. Hardly a bakery around... most streets were not paved and one could see an extensive vegetable plantation owned by Japanese who were the best growers of lettuce, tomatoes, cabbages etc. There was a clean rivulet that crossed the main road called Estrada do Rio Pequeno, where the Japanese got the water to irrigate their plantation. 

Claudio (45) & his older brother João (53) at their Mother's 80th birthday on 2nd August 1977. 

Claudio Amorim (45) with sons Claudinei & Arnaldo.  

Claudio died on 24 November 1993, at a hospital in São Paulo. As his Mother Albina and Father Fernando, Claudio had hyper tension aka high blood pressure.