Ed’s father’s name was Edmund Anthony Franchi, which was also Ed’s given name, therefore becoming a Junior. At the time of the interview he’d been married for 46 years. They were living in Port Jefferson, and he was the father of two grown children, his 43 year old son then residing in East Islip with one grandchild, and another on the way, and his daughter of 40 years who was living in Ashville, North Carolina and was the parent of his 3½ year old granddaughter.      His wife had a nursing school business in the Port Jefferson area from which she retired with the arrival of the grandchildren. She had proclaimed she had no intention of babysitting all week. Today she is over in East Islip at least 3 times a week. Life is full of surprises isn’t it. They have tried to get to North Carolina one week out of every month.
    Ed’s son is in the mortgage industry working for Wells Fargo for the last fourteen years mostly in the L.I. area for his career while living in East Islip. His daughter is Director of the Western North Carolina Health and Wellness Council. She has been in NC for twelve years, loves the area and has expressed no intention of ever moving back to NY. She is an adjunct professor at NC University in Nashville, She attended Penn State for her BA, and on her way to becoming an actress attended American University in Washington for her Masters after changing her major. Edmund is proud of both children for their accomplishments and with whom he and his wife have a close relationship and very much enjoy spending time together.
    Having grandchildren came late to Ed and he is enjoying this chapter in his life with a 3½ year old who’s going on 33. She’s a very intelligent young lady says her grandpa. His grandson is 22 months now and will be two in December. Their names are Jacob Edmund and Kia Jade (perhaps from a Cherokee Indian tribe for whom his daughter had been doing consulting in western North Carolina when she was born).
    Ed was born at Southside Hospital in Bay Shore. He spent most of his young life in Central Islip back when it was a very small community of 2,500 people. There he attended Central Islip High School and had a wonderful experience as a student who participated actively. He was born in 1937 and had just turned 69 when we talked. He wishes he was younger seeing how fast his life was flying by.
    Growing up, his was one of the few Italian families in Central Islip. In order to work at the hospital, for many years being Irish was a prerequisite, but eventually both his mom and dad worked there in different capacities. During his college years he would work at Pilgrim State Hospital during summers to earn money to put toward his upcoming school year. His earliest memory at 5 or 6 was when he came down with polio and was paralyzed for a period of time. He was fortunately able to regain his full mobility unlike some of his classmates who were not so fortunate and required rehabilitation at St Charles Hospital for periods of time.    They were very family oriented. His mother who originally came from Kingston, NC had come from a family of four children who because of economic conditions spent the early part of her life in an orphanage After she moved to Long Island with a sister she went to work at Pilgrim State Hospital where she met Ed’s father in the area shortly after. She was a convert to Catholicism from the Baptist religion. Her happiest moments were when she was with family, because she had experienced so much separation from her own. His father’s relatives lived in Queens and eventually all moved out to Long Island and to Ronkonkoma where they would be close to the rest of the family. His mother’s maiden name was Harriet Grady. She knew the identity of her birth parents. On her side there were two other sisters and two brothers. On Ed’s father’s side there were two sisters and three brothers. All came from moderately large sized families. Ed’s father’s family experience was similar. When they migrated from Italy they lived in Hell’s Kitchen which at the time was a poverty stricken area. Eventually they moved out to L.I. where they spent the rest of their lives. He has recollections of both his grandmothers but not his grandfathers. While we talked he touched upon memories of the Great Depression and the WW11 years that followed in its aftermath.
    Touching upon who besides parents impacted his life the most, he shared the name of his uncle Bill from his father’s side. He had never married and so devoted himself to his mother, He’s always been there when anyone in the family needed help. He gave Ed and his bride the deposit for the farm they bought in Ronkonkoma for $16,000.
    Edmund had a wonderful experience in high school and formed a relationship with a couple of teachers he never forgot, a Social Studies teacher and the band director / Music teacher he was able to find, spend an afternoon with a few years ago and thank for the help he had received so many years before.
    He attended State University at New Paltz in 1955 and matriculated in 1959 with a BA in Elementary Education. He did his student teaching at Island Trees in Nassau County (small district before Levitt build his homes there.) There he taught history at the elementary level before going back for his graduate degree at Hofstra University to be provisionally certified to teach Jr High by 1959.