Location: Australia
2 February 1942 – 8 November 2022
This life span belongs to a remarkable woman – my mother, Girolama Moschilla. After relocating from Italy to Australia, she preferred a different name and became known as Genny. The dates of her birth and death indicate she lived for 80 years during a particular era and nothing else. Of greater significance, is the lifetime represented by the small dash separating these two dates, for it is here where her true essence resides. With this in mind, Genny’s story will start - not at the beginning, nor at the end, but somewhere in between with a pivotal moment that changed her life forever.
On Saturday, 3 March 1962, Genny was a bridesmaid at the wedding of family friends Lina Marzano and Joe Caccamo. Genny was a beautiful Calabrese immigrant, who one month earlier had turned 20. Also attending the wedding was a handsome 28-year-old Sicilian guest named Martino Casella. At the reception, while lively piano accordion music was playing in the background, he approached Genny and asked her for a dance. Confronted with this young man standing before her waiting for a reply, she found herself facing an awkward social dilemma. Should she say “yes” or should she politely decline? The issue was that her strict father had firmly warned her before the event not to dance with any strangers. That evening, overcoming her fear, she found the courage to defy her father and bravely accepted Martino’s request - she danced with a man she didn't know.
Obviously, it was a memorable encounter because shortly after the wedding, Martino visited the Moschilla family to express his interest in Genny with a proposal – he asked her father, Salvatore, for permission to marry his daughter.
Within five short months, Genny and Martino would once again find themselves dancing together at another wedding, this time not as bridesmaid and guest, but as bride and groom.
The following photos are a special record of the day Genny met Martino.
Recollections about the colour of the bridesmaid dresses include descriptions of "olive green", "avocado green" and "pea green" - typical of how an Italian brain works in relating everything to food.
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