Eugene Cesaro

January 8, 1919 - July 1, 2006

Graduated St Marc College - 1937
Migrated from Egypt to Australia with his wife Rose - 1963
Some fond recollections of my father:
Swimming in the sea was one of his great loves. He would tell stories of when he used to swim in the Red Sea and in the beaches in Alexandria. He said that people at the beach in Sydney would copy how he would catch the waves. When I was young I would help him renovate, mostly to paint, tile, and concrete over grass.
He advised me that it would be better to put pavers over my 100 square meters of grass at my house so I did not have to spend time and effort owing. Every night he liked to watch the 6pm news on channel 7 with Roger Climpson, after spending an hour teaching me French and Italian. He liked to read "La Fiamma", the local Italian newspaper, and watch soccer on SBS. He liked to make jokes and laugh with people. He once put a sign up in my room. "Smile it makes people wonder what you have been up to". He worked long and hard at the Sydney Mail Exchange in Redfern to pay off his home and to always have money available for all necessities. He was very proud to move to Earlwood and be able to pay for two apartments in cash. He also put away money for his two sons to help us when it came time to buy our own homes. In 1992 we both went to Egypt and he showed me around Cairo and Alexandria. We even visited his old school "St Marc", prayed in the Chapel, and visited Brother Georges Dapery, whom dad kept in contact by letter from his time at school. He insisted in staying in the San Stefano hotel as it was the finest in its day and was upset at how broken down it had become. He co-owned a furniture factory and showroom, still existing in Héliopolis in 1992, called "Domex". He was proud of the quality of this furniture and when revisiting Egypt some friends showed him some pieces of his furniture that they still used. He was very fond of his grandchildren Anthea and Julian, who lovingly referred to him as "nonno". He used to come down to my house some time every weekend to be with them. He loved gardening and watering his beautiful plants.

Emilio Cesaro