Tony Alloggia, my father, was born in the town of Camarda, l’Aquila in the region of Abruzzo, Italy. At the age of 3, he left with his parents to move to the town of Charleroi in Belgium where they lived for a year before immigrating to Ottawa. He grew up in the New Edinburgh neighborhood where he attended New Edinburgh Public School. As a teenager, he attended Ottawa Tech high school where he met many of his good friends. After high school, he went to Carleton University where he received a Bachelor’s degree in math and sciences and where he met Anita. They took an Italian class together. My father obviously didn’t take the class seriously as he often copied my mom’s homework. They eventually got married in 1977 and ten years later they had twins. He was a civil servant in the RCMP for over 30 years.

What can I say about my father? Obviously the attendance here today speaks for itself. First and foremost he was devoted to his family. He constantly reminded my sister and I that our three most important priorities at the moment are school, school, and school. We took trips together to Italy almost every summer where he took us sightseeing and was our personal tour guide. At the beach he would take us snorkeling and in the mountains he took us hiking. Even in Canada he would often take my sister and me to Gatineau where we would take nature walks. Travelling with my father always took ten times longer than it should since he would stop every two seconds to take pictures of us, or a church, or a panoramic scene, or flowers, you get the idea. When my sister and I were in school, he would make sure that if we had any problems he would help us with homework, especially with math and science. In fact, he was able to help me all the way to first year engineering, and then he said, “You’re on your own kid”, obviously still helping with moral support. When my sister decided to go study in Italy, he wasn’t thrilled at first, but once he got used to the idea he didn’t waste an opportunity to boast about how his daughter studying in Italy. Last fall he accompanied my sister on a two-day road trip to Amiens, France where my sister was pursuing a study abroad program in languages. At that point, my father was really beaming with pride. After a few days, my mother joined them and together they travelled around France. My father couldn’t stop talking about how bad the road signs were. My dad also liked cooking, often creating conflicts when he and my mom were in the kitchen together. However, he loved my mom very much, even when she nagged him about procrastinating for things he didn’t enjoy doing. When my mom was in Italy, he always made sure that I ate well, asking me first thing in the morning what I wanted for dinner. My father was surrounded by two loving parents, Giovanni and the late Berardina, his sisters, Maria and Lucia, and his brother, Raffaele. My father did everything in his power to make sure that Fabiana and I grew up with a sense of respect for others and teaching us morals and values.

My father had many interests. He was a very cultured man, a walking encyclopedia. He knew everything about everything and didn’t miss an opportunity to lecture us about history, philosophy, politics, art, anything that he thought would fill our brains with knowledge. He was constantly reading books and he had the amazing ability to retain everything he learned. He sometimes couldn’t remember where he left his wallet or cell phone, or I’d come home and notice the house keys still in the lock of the door, but he could recite a book that he read twenty years earlier. He loved photography. I don’t even know how many weddings and events he photographed. I’m sure many of you here today had your wedding photographed by him. He always brought cameras and lenses wherever he went. He loved music. We must have several thousand records sitting somewhere in boxes. He taught himself classical guitar many years ago and then taught himself to play the piano. He played even when it was time for bed and my mom always gave him an earful. Music was one of the things he had in common with my girlfriend Milena, whom he loved very much. My father was also a very active member of the Italian community.

Mio padre faceva parte del Congresso Nazionale degli Italo-Canadesi, del Centro Abruzzese Candese e dell’Amici della cultura Italiana. Anni fà era uno dei primi fondatori di Tele-30. Aiutava sempre altre associazioni per organizzare eventi, raccolta fondi o semplicemente per fare il fotografo. Non sapeva mai dire di no. Era sempre disposto ad aiutare gli altri. Tramite queste attività, papà ha fatto tante amicizie e si è guadagnato il rispetto e l’affetto di tutti. A tutti questi eventi, aveva sempre qualche battuta per far ridere la gente. Vogliamo ringraziare la famiglia di papà, i nostril parenti ed amici per tutto il loro aiuto e sostegno durante questo difficile periodo. Papà, ci mancherai a tutti immensamente. Ti vogliamo tanto bene e sarai sempre nei nostri cuori.