My interview is with someone many of you in Tyrone have come in contact with over the years. He is Anthony R. Maisano, known to most of us as “Tony.”
Tony was born May 16, 1913 in Ironville. He is the fourth child born to Nicholas M. and Jeanette Maisano.
The Maisano family originated from the province of Messina in Sicily, Italy. Nicholas came to America in 1910, settling first in the Philadelphia area. In 1911 Jeanette followed her husband to America with their two daughters, Mary (Germino) and Josephine (Saylor). While still living in the Philadelphia area, the Maisanos had their third child, Joseph. Then in 1913 the Maisano family moved to Tyrone Forge, near Ironville, known locally as “The Forge.” Here Tony was born. The Nicholas Maisano family continued to grow to ten children, with a new addition about every two years. The children following Tony are: Phillip, Virginia (Hampton), Frances (Scordo), Charles, Frank, and Nicholas. Nicholas, born in 1922, died shortly after his birth. The children’s mother, Jeanette, died later in 1922 due to complications that developed after giving birth to her son.
Nicholas, their father, was a trackman for the railroad where he worked until his death. Nicholas was working with his son Tony at Union Furnace doing repairs after the wreck of October 1939. The weather was cold and damp, and Nicholas caught a cold. The cold turned into pneumonia, and Nicholas never recovered. The illness took his life the following month.
After the loss of their mother, all the youngsters started to work very early in their lives to help out at home. The girls did all the house chores, while the boys worked in the surrounding area doing odd jobs.
Tony recalls some of these jobs. One that came to mind right away was, at the age of 8, Tony was a water boy for the kiln workers at the nearby quarries. He was paid twenty-five cents a week to carry drinking water to the workers twice a day.
Tony, Phil, and Joe also worked at the Campbell, Wigton, and Tyrone Fuel & Supply farms picking potatoes. The boys were sometimes paid with money and other times with potatoes. The boys also did farm work on the nearby Kimberling farm. Tony recalls the job at Kimberlings’ was one he liked a lot because of the benefit that came with the job — the home-cooked meals. Mrs. Kimberling served the best-tasting food that Tony could remember.
The boys also helped out by hunting and fishing in the area. A favorite fishing spot was Rooney’s pond, which was a great place to catch yellow perch and catfish. (The Rooney family had a general store in nearby Nealmont.) Tony obtained his first hunting license in 1929 at age 16. He hunted small game and deer from that time on. Tony recalls that his father never got his naturalization papers, and therefore never could get a hunting license.
All the children picked berries on the mountains. This family tradition had been started by their mother years before. When the berry supply was good, they would sell some for extra money and can the rest for use throughout the year. Gardening also was one of the children’s many jobs. Tony recalls that in those days people canned as much as possible in order to get through the winter. The Maisanos also had grapevines and used the grapes to make juice and jelly; later on Tony made wine.
The Maisano children went to school in Ironville from first through eighth grade. Students who wanted to go on to high school had to go to Tyrone. Tony attended high school for only one year.
At the school in Ironville the name Maisano was accidentally changed to Maceno. Teachers at the school misspelled it, and not until later when the family realized the mistake, was the name corrected. Others, however never bothered. Tony assures me all of the Maisanos and Macenos in the Tyrone area are from the same family.
After his schooling, Tony continued working at some of the same jobs as before. He remembers that during the depression jobs were hard to find, but he was fortunate to find work with the milling company in Ironville. Tony’s job at the mill was bagging up pancake, buckwheat, and biscuit flour into two-pound sacks for fifty cents an hour.
Tony soon realized he needed a better job and applied for work with the railroad. Since one had to be at least 18 to be employed, Tony lied about his age. Tony, only 16 at the time, told the agent he was 18 and was hired. He started out as a trackman in the Tyrone area. From February 1934 to August 1935 Tony went to Baltimore to work. He worked on electrifying the railroad from Baltimore to Alexandria, Va. Tony remembers all the work was underground. He ran electrical wiring in the tunnels. While Tony was employed in Baltimore, he worked with another Tyroner, Santo Turiano. Santo returned home every weekend to Tyrone. Tony would send money with his friend to be given to his father in Ironville. Santo’s family lived on Woodland Ave. in Tyrone. Mrs. Turiano and her daughter Virginia walked from their home to the Nealmont store to do some of their shopping. When the Turianos made this trip they dropped by the Maisano home to deliver the money to Nicholas. After that job was completed in 1936, he returned to Tyrone to live with his father. This gave Tony the opportunity to thank Mrs. Turiano and Virginia for being his courier. Their first meeting was probably love at first sight for Virginia and Tony.
Tony went to work on the rail train out of Altoona and Tyrone, a job he continued for seven years. The rail train crew did general repairing to the rails and its hardware. During this time Tony and Virginia started dating, and on January 2, 1937 they were married in St. Matthew’s Church, Tyrone.
Tony and Virginia lived in a few different homes in the area when they first married. The young couple became a family later that year starting with a son, Nicholas, in 1937. They were blessed with eight more children: Jeanette (Reed/Sweeney) 1939, James 1941, Josephine (Eyer) 1943, Anthony 1945, Frank 1947, Virginia (Dimon) 1949, Cecilia (Romano) 1951, and Joseph 1953. In 1943, with the family outgrowing the place they were living, Tony bought his first home on Woodland Ave.
In 1944 Tony began working on the grinding train for the railroad. A grinding train is eight cars long and moves at the speed of two miles per hour. Each car on the train has six grinder motors on each side. Every car’s grinders are set at a special angle. When the complete train passes over a section of rail a new edge is cut to the rail. Tony said the old engineers noticed immediately the difference on the newly sharpened rails.
Later Tony ran a tamping train for the railroad. This machine ran over the railroad ties to level them. Tony remained on this crew until his retirement in 1975 — after 43 years of railroading.
Tony had many stories regarding his days on the rails. The one I found interesting was how they turned locomotives around at the wye switches near the Tyrone station. Tony said the trains coming from the west would approach the Gray tower (at Thomastown) on the Lock Haven line and wait for clearance. When clearance came, the disconnected locomotive would move forward across the switches. Then the switch was thrown and the locomotive would back down over the switches at the Wilson tower to the main line, and thereby be headed back toward the west. This wye switching system eliminated the need for a turntable to turn about locomotives.
Tony gave much of his life to the railroad, and he also gave much to his community. When Tony’s sons became involved in school sports, he was there to support them. Tony and Virginia helped organize the Golden Eagles Booster Club for the support of all Tyrone school sports. The couple served as officers in the club and cooked for their banquets. During the ’60s, ’70s, and ’80s the Maisanos always were connected with all the school activities in which they could help.
Tony served as Governor of the local Moose Lodge #25 and in 1985 received its highest honor, the Pilgrim Degree. Tony also found time to serve as president of the Tyrone Clubmen Association and helped organize activities throughout town.
Tony’s life always has been busy, and he is always ready for whatever life deals him. In 1966 his home on Woodland Ave. had to be torn down to make way for the new Rt. 220 Bypass (now Interstate 99). Tony and Virginia were forced to move. They bought their present home on Park Ave. where they continue life as before — not changing their lifestyle or traditions.
Now the Maisanos are retired from most activities and are proud of their many accomplishments. Tony’s large family had six out of the nine children graduate from college — a real honor to Tony and Virginia who always want the best for everyone.
I have known this family for a long time; they make you feel very at ease when you are in their home. I want to say thank you to Tony for sharing his life with all of us. His adventures were told in a way that I wished I could go to that time so long ago.
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