HENRY and INEZ CASOLANI a Couple Moulded in Christ Part One the Biography
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HENRY AND INEZ CASOLANI A Couple Moulded in Christ Anton Quintano Part One The Biography 1 The couple’s early life Henry (Henry Joseph Carmel Francis Paul) Casolani was born on the 25 November 19171 at 175 St Christopher Street, Valletta (Malta). He was the son of George who hailed from Rabat (Victoria) in the sister island of Gozo, and Maria Concetta nee Borg of Sliema (Malta). He was baptised five days later in the Collegiate Church of St Paul in Valletta by Father Peter Farrugia. His maternal grandparents, Salvatore and Paulina Borg were his Godparents.2 Both relatives and friends used to call him Harry. He married Inez Vassallo on 19 April 1944 at the Church of St Augustine in Valletta, which then formed part of the parish of Porto Salvo (Saint Dominic).3 He died on 29 December 1999 at Zammit Clapp Hospital, Sliema, when he was 82 years old,4 seven years after his wife’s death. Inez Casolani, named Agnes (Angela Maria-Anna Josepha Emmanuela Publia Concetta) nee Vassallo was born on 11 October 1915 at 36 St Theresa Street, Cospicua (Malta). She was the daughter of Giovanni Felice and Giuseppina nee Portelli. She was baptised two days later by Fr Francesco Mallia at the Collegiate parish church of the Immaculate Conception. Her paternal grandparents Carmelo and Concetta acted as godparents.5 Inez died on 13 July 1992 when she was 76 years old in their summer residence at 27 Pretty Bay, Birzebbugia (Malta).6 When Henry was still a child, his parents moved to St Mark Street, Valletta.7 His father was the editor of the Maltese daily newspaper Il-Berqa, died on 3 August 1941, during the war. He was very much respected for his professional abilities, as Miss Mabel Strickland's words of condolences on the occasion show.8 His loss was the cause of great sadness for Henry. His mother passed away twenty years later on 1 September 1961. Henry had one sister, Juliette, who was two years his senior. Inez's father, Giovanni Felice, was an Arts teacher in Government schools, and as he was intelligent and highly cultured, he excelled in various fields. Besides being a musician, a good organist, a singer and a chapel master, he was also an excellent painter. He served as Brother and Rector of the Fratellanza or Brotherhood of the Holy Crucifix of Cospicua, and was also Secretary to St George`s Band Club of the same city.9 It is certain that Inez was highly influenced in her upbringing by the wide 1 Public Registry, Malta, Act of Birth 5819 / 1917 2 Archives of the Collegiate Parish of St Paul, Valletta, Liber Baptizatorum, 1917; Casolani Archives (AC) 4.1 3 Porto Salvo Archives, Valletta, Liber Matrimoniorum, 1942-1945, p.120; AC4.4 4 Death Certificate, Dr M.A. Vassallo; AC 4.7 5 Archives of the Collegiate Parish, Cospicua, Liber Baptizatorum XXI, p. 120; AC 4.2 6 Death certificate, Dr J. Ferriggi; AC 4.5 7 Mary Said, June 2002, AC 38.2 8 The Sunday Times, 2 September 1991, AC 48.61 9 Sunny Aquilina, 4 May 2003, AC 36.21, and Marie Gruppetta, 16 March 1997, AC 36.17-19. Appendix I is a short appreciation of Giovanni Felice Vassallo. cultural background of her father, who was very religious and civic minded. Inez Casolani`s father, Giovanni Felice died in 1937 when he was 52 years old and her mother, Giuseppina nee Vassallo, died in 1953. Inez was the third of five children, the others were called Marie, Beatrice (Bessie), John (Johnny) and Josie. Henry was polite and well-mannered as a young boy, and would never engage in a scuffle, or quarrel with anyone. According to a life-long friend of his, he was a good boy to a high degree and for this reason, he was liked by everyone. The young boys at Valletta played football in the side streets, and, at times, the match would turn into a free for all. But Henry already showed his conciliatory manners and avoided quarrels. Even his walk betrayed his polite ways.10 He was tall and thin, and in later years his friends likened him to the famous actor John Wayne. He first attended Flores College, and later, went to the school of Fine Arts in Valletta, where he studied painting and sculpture. He was already going steady with Inez when he won a scholarship to study in Italy. He declined the offer because he did not want to be separated from her for such a long time. He started work as a draughtsman at the Public Works Department in 1934, but at the start of the Second World War he was seconded with the Royal Army Medical Corps (RAMC). After the war he returned to the Public Works where he remained until his pension in 1977. A friend of Henry, architect Michael Busuttil recounts a fact that shows what an upright character Henry was and how much he was trusted. Michael lived at Paola (Malta) with his parents and three sisters who were then young ladies. In spite of this, Henry was allowed to come to their home at will.11 At an early age, Inez showed proficiency at school especially in languages, so much so that she won a scholarship to follow a secondary school course at the Normal School which at that time trained girls for a teaching career. In 1931 she passed her Oxford Junior Local Examination with a certificate in five subjects: English, History, Italian, Arithmetic, and Religion.12 Certainly this was an exceptional result for those times, and more than the minimum requirements for the teaching career, for which she had a natural disposition and a life-long vocation as shall be seen in the following chapters. She ended the course in 1933 with merits.13 She started to teach at Umberto Primo School, (she was the only Maltese teacher there), and later at a Girls` Secondary School at Cospicua where she remained until 1942. She then became a clerk with the Royal Air Force, but she gave up the job when she got married. In her youth, Inez lived at Cospicua, but during the war her family found refuge with some relatives at Hamrun, since the Three Cities was heavily bombed. She was jovial and affable in character, and according to her cousin, Dr Leo Portelli, Inez spoke to all and sundry, but was also prudent.14 He lived at Paola when Inez used to visit them together with her mother and he particularly remembers her love and skill in cooking. On the other hand, Louis Gonzi of Valletta remembers Inez for her fair complexion, her round face and for her goodness.15 10 Paul Cauchi, 28 June 2002, AC 40.25 11 Michael Busuttil, 2001, AC 36A.6 12 AC 32.23 13 AC 32.24 14 Dr Leo Portelli, May 2002, AC 37.19 15 Louis Gonzi, January 2002, AC 36.4 Henry and Inez met for the first time early in their youth, since Henry was a friend of her brother John. Henry and Inez loved and respected each other greatly, yet in an honest way. Their engagement period was not always a bed of roses, as is usual in any love relationship, as this coincided with the second world war, one of the worst periods in our island's history. Moreover, Henry lost his father in 1941, but luckily, he found consolation in Inez. He was stationed for a while at Pembroke Barracks (Malta) and he was only on leave once a week because the Maltese in the military corps were working under strict discipline. Henry worked with British servicemen, who occasionally proved to be oblivious of morality. Therefore, when he got to know from Inez that she was being persuaded by her mother and sisters to start working with the Royal Air Force to help her family financially after the loss of their father, Henry was very concerned and suffered very much in silence. To make matters worse, his sister, Juliette, found refuge with their relatives in Gozo, and Henry used to visit them regularly at a great risk, especially when cycling all the way from Marfa landing place to Mtarfa Hospital. However, when a bicycle was not available, he walked the distance of 20 kilometres on foot.16 In the early days of the war Henry was stationed at Paola, often on guard at the Addolorata Cemetery. That was a very dangerous area during air raids since it was close to the Marsa Newport, Luqa airfield and St James Heavy anti-aircraft gun battery. Henry and his companions were not allowed to seek refuge in rock-hewn shelters during air raids.17 He spent the later years of the war giving his service at Mtarfa Hospital. There, he was quite close to home since his family had meanwhile left Valletta and found refuge at Rabat.18 Inez's family were also evacuated to Hamrun and Henry used to visit her as much as possible. She used to teach at Cospicua School where, one day the school was heavily bombed, but fortunately all the teachers and pupils had already found shelter underground, and everyone escaped unhurt. Henry was unaware of this good fortune, since the school was reduced to a heap of rubble. When he went to meet Inez and he could not see her coming by the usual road, he was extremely worried. One can only imagine the joy he felt when he caught sight of her coming by another street! She had made a detour to avoid all the rubble of demolished buildings and naturally arrived later than usual.19 Since the engaged couple could not meet often, and neither could Henry avail himself of a telephone, they wrote to each other quite frequently, even just to fix a date.