My name is Marsella and I live in Edinburgh in Scotland.
I found your website through an entry on Google connected to your page dated 18/06/07 for a Karen Mutino doing a Class of 1967 reunion and hope you may be able to help me by pointing me in the right direction. Perhaps you can direct me to some internet sites that hold this type of information or photographs that I have been unable to locate myself. I have contacted Park Avenue School and I am hoping that a friend of mine is going to be able to go through their archives for me mid February but that is still under negotiation.
My sister, Ivana, will be 60 on 29th March 2010 (born 1950) and as a surprise I am making a book of her life as a gift to her. I am looking for anything pertaining to Park Avenue School between 1955 and 1958. My sister first attended Park Avenue School around May 1955 and she was put into a kindergarten class, she remained at the school there until 1958 as our family returned back to Scotland in the August. My Mother remembers some of her friends being Marie Onofrie that lived in a house facing Portchester High School, a girl with surname Linen that lived in Fairview Avenue and another girl called Marcella. My parents liked the name so much I was named Marsella.
Our parents emigrated to Portchester at the end of April 1955 with my sister and remained there until 1958. When they first arrived they lived at either Merrit Street or 417 Franklin Street, Portchester. I still have family living in and around the area, aunts and uncles and cousins. One of my first cousins is Louis Mario De Marco he is a lawyer in Portchester and I am led to believe he is quite well known in the area. I have not contacted them about this as my cousins all work full time and my aunts and uncles are old and not in good health.
This project has taken me on quite a journey of her 60 years I have even managed to obtain Ivana's name on the passenger list going out to New York on The Queen Mary and both of ours returning on The Queen Elisabeth with our parents to Southampton in England.
Although I have family photos of that time I am hoping you can point me in the right direction to help me fill in some gaps as there is a void in the book I am puting together.
I was born on 16th February 1958 at The United Hospital. I attended Park Avenue school in 1964, that was the condition attached to my being allowed out of school in Scotland to visit my grandparents who at that time stayed at 11 Hillcrest Avenue, Portchester. I have my transfer card that was given to me when my time at Park Avenue finished. The principal at my time of attendance was Mary K Bain and my class teacher was a Miss Esther Williams. I was in grade 2 and my last date of attendance was 25th November 1964 and my date of discharge was 30th November 1964. Unfortunately I do not have the date when my time commenced but I arrived in Portchester on 14th September 1964 so I guess it would be shortly after that. The only name I remember from my time there was Herman Goodyear he was a neighbour of my Grandparents and we played together after school. Whilst I am doing this it would be fantastic to obtain some information on my own time in Portchester, although I do not wish to be too greedy, and my main concern is to fill in the gaps for my sister.
Thank you for taking the time to read this and I hope you can help but if not that you will pass it on to someone who can. My only problem is that time is now against me.
I hope to hear from you.
Kind regards
Marsella
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