Corsaro Family Page

DANNY AND MAGGIE CORSARO FAMILY PAGE

Daniel Francis Corsaro was born November 23, 1911. He, like his brothers and sisters, spent time while growing up in an orphanage in Vincennes, Indiana, after his father died and his mother could not take care of the children. While growing up, he sold newspapers on the streets of Indianapolis to make money. He also worked at George Hitz Produce Company before going into business with his father-in-law and brothers-in-law. He married Maggelina (Maggie) Caito on November 6, 1938.

After the marriage, he drove a truck selling and delivering produce to grocery stores. He and his father-in-law and brothers-in-law formed a company, Caito and Corsaro Produce. Later his interest in Caito and Corsaro was sold to his brothers-in-law and he started a banana processing company, Independent Banana Company with the Bova's of Indianapolis. The marriage with Maggie was fruitful. There were five children born of the marriage.

Paul is the oldest, named after his Grandfather, a child by the name of Concetta was born, but she died at a young age of age 4 of leukemia, then another daughter was born whom they also named Concetta, and two other sons followed, Joe and Danny.

Danny had many, many interests in life. He loved to wager. He was a frequent visitor to Louisville and Cincinnati to observe the horses. He was very sports minded and athletic. He enjoyed bowling, especially with his brothers. He bowled four perfect 300 games. He also was very active in his children's lives. He coached all his children in football, basketball, baseball and kickball. He was multi-talented. He could coach baseball and at the same time listen to the horse races on the radio. He was very kind, helpful and generous to others during his life. He had a great love for his brothers and sisters and for all their families as well.

Danny stayed active in the produce business until the day he passed away on July 11, 2000. In 2006 at the age of 91, Maggie still works five days a week at the produce company owned and operated by their two youngest sons, Joe and Danny.

Picture taken before Maggie’s 90^th Birthday Mass and Party in 2004. The picture is of Maggie and her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Total of 48 persons in picture.

Picture of Maggie’s sister, Mary Ann Schembra, sister Marguerite Bova and brother, Johnny Caito in 2004.

Picture of Maggie’s children, Paul and Concetta Groves, Paul and Francie Corsaro, Joe and Andee Corsaro and Danny and Karen Corsaro in 2004.

Maggelina Marie Caito Corsaro

As written by Karen Corsaro 2001

Maggelina Marie Caito Corsaro was born September 3, 1914 on Henry Street in Indianapolis to first generation Italians Clara Katherine Mercurio Caito and Joseph Caito. She was the first child of the couple who would eventually welcome Ida Mae, Mary Ann, Phillip, Marguerite and Johnny to their family.

When Maggie was two years old the family purchased a double on south New Jersey St. The family moved into one side of the double while the other side was rented to a "mitigani" family. Growing up on New Jersey St. was filled with simple pleasures like playing house with her cousin, also named Mag, and helping her mother and father around the house. Mag remembers her father's love of sports and card playing and her mother's devotion to church and family. Even at an early age, Maggie liked to work, especially with her hands. Later in life people would marvel at Maggie's strong and quick hands. Her son once said, "She could have been a world class wide receiver in the NFL — quick with great hands."

When Maggie completed elementary school at Holy Rosary, she was ready to take on permanent chores at home and with her father's business. She looked forward to cooking and cleaning — especially cleaning! One day shortly after Maggie would have started high school, a truant officer showed up at the door. Maggie's morn invited the officer into the house where they came to an agreement that Maggie would return to school. Every day Maggie ran to school and home, because she was fearful of walking under the tunnel on McCarty Street on her way to Manual High School. On her 16¹¹¹birthday, less than a year after the truant officer came to her house, Maggie said her goodbyes to school friends and ran home for the last time, never to return to school again. In her own words, "I never cared much for school. I liked to work! I wanted to help my father load bananas!"

From age 16 on, Maggie set about working for and caring for her family in every possible way. This included her immediate family as well as legions of extended family members, nieces, nephews, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, friends and family and her beloved church and parish, Holy Rosary. Work and doing for others is all Maggie has ever really cared about. "I don't much care about things she says. The only thing I ever remember really being excited about was my engagement ring, but I don't dare wear it, cause I might lose it."

In 1936 Maggie began dating Danny Corsaro. According to Maggie, "All the boys worked at the commission house — so that's how I knew him." "We went to the movies and I went to watch him play bowling." Maggie and Danny got engaged on Christmas Eve. About a year later they married on November 6, 1938 beginning 62 years of marriage. As with everything, Maggie has a simple explanation for why she picked Danny. "I thought it was time to get married and he was nice." "All I ever wanted was to get married and be a housewife. I never thought about anything else." Maggie has fond memories of her wedding reception at Mrs. Costello's restaurant. "It was a really big doings on a beautiful day — and everyone ate chicken and country food, served family style."

Maggie and Danny moved into the other side of the double next door to her mother and father on New Jersey St. Margie and Louie Benedict got married around the same time and they moved in upstairs. These were happy times. Soon, in 1943, Maggie and Danny welcomed Paul, their oldest son into the family. They were grateful to have Paul as they had lost twins in a previous pregnancy. In 1946, Concetta Patricia was born and Maggie was delighted to have a boy and a girl. Concetta was a beautiful child with golden curls and a winning smile. Maggie and Danny would suffer a broken heart when Concetta died of leukemia before the age of four. God always had a way of taking care of Maggie though and in 1951 he sent her a second daughter also named Concetta to honor her sister, followed by Joseph in 1953 and Danny in 1955.

Maggie mothered these children and the children of other family members. Antoinette Dullaghan and Marie Pittman fondly recall days in the basement of New Jersey St. Aunt Mag was like a mother to many children, cooking hot "mufalletti" with jelly, chasing you with a broomstick when you were bad, carting you around in the station wagon, traipsing to all your games and making sure you knew the importance of family. She always stressed the love and the bond of family.

Maggie's life totally revolved around her family and the city of Indianapolis. In fact the only time she went out of town was to go to Joycie's wedding in New Jersey. Joycie was the daughter of Frank Roland, Danny's brother. Joycie had lost her mother at the age of seven, and Aunt

Mag felt that someone in the family should be there for her. Maggie never flew on an airplane or took a cruise. Driving the "machine" downtown was enough for her. It got her where she needed to go which was most likely a CYO game somewhere, first for Paul, then Cetta, Joe, Danny and scores of grandchildren and great grand children. If there were an award for attending the most CYO games in a lifetime, Mag would probably get it. Maggie made her presence known at these events. She usually knew the refs by name and she was certain to straighten them out when they didn't understand all the rules or what the right call ought to be. Maggie is famous for running down the sidelines while her son Danny ran for a touchdown and running into the locker room at half time to straighten out the refs. If refs or for that matter anyone else gave her any trouble, Maggie would simply make a face, point her finger and say, "I show you! I show you!" That usually cleared things right up. Of course no one could possible be as worthy an athlete as her children or grand children. Maggie saves some of her nicest compliments for the opponents — always calling them "Those dirty things!" She never officially was a coach but she probably had as much to say as any of those guys did. No one in the family can recall a basketball game without Maggie yelling "Hands up boys, hands up!"

With all the sports that her children played Maggie knew it was wise to take good care of equipment. To this day she can still pull out Paul's football helmet, Danny's basketball jersey, Joe's baseball stuff and a myriad of other uniforms and equipment. The one thing that she didn't care much for were all those trophies that her kids won — too much to dust — she would say!

Saving money is a theme in Maggie's life, saving and not spending that is. Danny can remember working at Uncle Frank's bookstore but never seeing any of the money that he was paid. Uncle Frank paid Mom instead of Danny and she deposited it in the bank of course. The bank was the stove in the kitchen upstairs. The stove that wasn't actually ever used or even connected to the gas or the electricity. Inside the stove were cigar boxes, envelopes and old purses, each carefully labeled with money in paper clips or rubber bands and a slip of torn paper with a child's name on it. Maggie knew how to save a dollar and how to stretch a dollar. She knew every angle on savings at the grocery store or LS Ayres. She never let the dates on food containers get in the way of making good use of something and she could feed her entire extended family for a week with the leftovers from a catering job.

Now don't let this story give you the wrong impression. Maggie is known for food — great food! Maggie's reputation grew from her bread. Each Saturday morning Maggie and her mother and sisters would wake at 4am to bake bread. "When the bread comes good — it was like candy." Maggie picked tomatoes with her sisters and stewed them into sauce on an open fire in the backyard. They would get together bricks and make an open stove with a big pot on top. This family sauce became famous and Maggie and her mother and sisters were often called upon to cook for spaghetti suppers. No one knows how many spaghetti suppers Maggie and her family have cooked but suffice it to say that there is not a Catholic in town that hasn't eaten her pasta. In recent years Maggie took her reputation for good food and put it to work at the Holy Rosary Festival where she and her family run the Fettuccine booth. This is one of Mag's proudest moments, surrounded by generations of her family and doing something good for her church.

Maggie is all about doing good things. When Jackie Bayt decided to go into the restaurant business, Aunt Mag joined Jackie's Aunt Margaret and other family members to work for free, doing cooking, serving and cleaning up. When asked why she did it Maggie tells the story this way. "Jackie wanted to become known you know. He fixed us up a stand and we made sandwiches outside at the stand over there in Lockerbie. We did a lot of street festivals — who even remembers what we sold — I think it was strawberries — oh morona mia — we had so many strawberries! When Jackie would ask me I would say, "why not, that's my family, that's what you do for your family. It was work but it was fun."

Maggie made the most of every life experience and she made friends along the way. Everyone calls her Aunt Mag whether she is their Aunt or not. And it didn't really matter to Maggie whether you were actually related — if you needed help she would try to figure out how to help you. One of Maggie's favorite charities is the Little Sisters of the Poor. Sister Jean Marie became family over the years, bringing Mag cookies for her boys while Mag made sure that produce and catering goods got delivered to the sisters.

Maggie has always been a devout Catholic. When asked what she wanted for her children growing up, she said, "I just wanted them to be good Catholics." Early in her life Maggie joined the Immaculate Conception Ladies Society. This provided an opportunity for her to do service work for the church and socialize in the community of the parish. Maggie is a World-class "pray-er". She knows exactly what every saint is good for, who you talk to about what problems and exactly which way you bury the statues if you really need quick results. She has a running dialogue with Saint Anthony routinely asking for his help and threatening him that if he doesn't come through she's not praying to him anymore. He always comes through! If you ever need holy water, religious medals, Mass cards or a rosary check out Maggie's car. She has enough stuff stashed there to open her own religious store.

Today Maggie lives right behind Holy Rosary church, which is a blessing. That puts her at the back door to the CYO gym where she is often found watching games, and close to daily mass. Maggie's prayers have delivered many favors from God including a long healthy life and successful, happy children. "All my children are big shots," Maggie says proudly and with a smile. At the same time she shrugs her shoulders and has a tear in her eye -- as though she does not know how she could be so lucky."