Rick Lerro visits a 1920s general store museum

Rick Lerro enjoyed a visit to the Brookshire Brothers Museum in Tyler, Texas. The day tip included a stroll through the museum's safari animal exhibits and its recreation of a 1920s general store. The store was filled with the kinds of products that Rick saw when he was a boy growing up in Philadelphia. - November 12, 2010

Growing up at the meat market

As a little boy, he was known as Joe. His grandmother, Justina Camarota Lerro, and her son, Charlie “Eggie” Lerro, found the orphanage, paid a fee, and brought the boy into their home at 1024 South Ninth Street in Philadelphia. He was seven years old.

The first floor of the building was Lerro Meats, a butcher shop catering to the Italian immigrants pouring in through New York and Philadelphia. The Lerro family lived on the second and third floors of the little row house in four small bedrooms. A small bathroom would later be added to the second floor. The largest area was the vast basement that ran the length of the property, with steps to the little backyard and the front sidewalk.

Justina had learned to run the butcher shop while her husband, Pasquale, worked for the City of Philadelphia and taught English to Italian immigrants. Their sons, Joe’s young uncles, sold fruits and vegetables from carts on the narrow sidewalk out front. Justina kept a loaded revolver behind the counter – just in case. She had become a widow in 1918 when Pasquale suddenly succumbed to the Spanish Influenza.

Little Joe grew up by his grandmother’s side and appreciated the affection. He was closer to his uncles than to his own father or mother, both of whom lived nearby. "I used to help Charlie with the butcher shop, and Wally with the fruit stand. My mother used to pass by and wouldn't look at the butcher shop."

Growing up in the butcher shop gave the boy his first practical skills. Throughout his life, Rick Lerro would not be too far from a butcher shop. His primary duties in the Navy were in the cramped, steamy kitchens on destroyers in the Pacific. After the war, whenever he needed extra money Rick would find work at butcher shops.

Justina kept the family together and the business afloat. Most importantly, she kept alive the dream that she had shared with her young husband when they decided to leave Italy. She and Pasquale are buried side by side in Philadelphia’s Holy Cross Cemetery.

Justina Camarota Lerro (b. near Napoli 1870- d. Philadelphia August 28, 1939)
Pasquale Lerro (b. near Napoli 1866-d. Philadelphia March 18, 1918)

Born in Philadelphia

Joseph Lerro was a young man in 1918 and had just returned from service in the U.S. Army in the great war in Europe. He liked to dance and as a  member of a large family in Philadelphia's Little Italy there were plenty of opportunities. He met Catherine Meo at a neighborhood dance and they soon married. She was a young woman who worked as a beautician at Gimbels Department Store on Market Street.

The marriage was not supported by either family.The Meos and the Lerros came from different regions of Southern Italy. They were "Cilandan" and "Napolitan," and in families still tied to their recent past, their passions ran deep. Soon Joe and Catherine were each living with their separate families. They never bothered with a divorce.

Catherine's pregnancy was not welcomed, and following the birth of her son in February she showed little desire to raise him. After a few difficult years, Catherine and her parents left the toddler at a Catholic orphanage outside of Philadelphia. Years later, Richard would have few memories of that time, but he developed a deep affection for the nuns who provided him with shelter, food, and guidance.