Rosalie Parco
Strengthening Community Resilience in America’s Oldest Seaport
In partnership with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center, these oral history recordings capture the invaluable life experiences of long-lived members of Gloucester's working waterfront, one of the oldest fishing communities in the United States.
Molly Graham
Rosalie Parco was born in 1926 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Both sides of her family immigrated from Sicily, and included many fishermen. She graduated from Gloucester High School in 1944, and attended Kathleen Dell Secretarial School in Boston. Then she met her husband, Anthony Parco, founder of Ocean Crest Seafoods and Neptune's Harvest Fertilizer in Gloucester, a family business that is still in operation today.
Scope and Content Note
Rosalie Parco discusses her family background, including her parents' immigration from Italy and their settlement in Gloucester, Massachusetts. She talks about growing up in a close-knit community in Gloucester and shares memories of her childhood, education, and career. She clarifies that she finished high school and went on to attend Kathleen Dell Secretarial School. Parco goes on to discuss her involvement in the fishing industry through her husband's seafood company. She recalls that the fisheries conventions took them on travels to places like China, Japan, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, and more.
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