Parm & Gerald circa 1940	Parm & Gerald circa 1980's	Parm & her family at the 50th reunion

The Parma (Bifano) Longo Family Page

Parma Josephine was No. 7, right smack in the middle of the Bifano clan. She was born on April 27, 1914, in Kane, Pennsylvania.  At the age of 2, she contracted polio, leaving her with a deformed leg and foot. This, however, did not hold her down. She was extremely feisty and did her best to keep up with her brothers and sisters. The older siblings were very protective of her, and she recalls how her brothers Joe or Chuck would carry her around on their backs so she wouldn't be left behind. She played basketball in high school and was the only Bifano girl to graduate.

She was married to Gerald Anthony Longo on June 23, 1934, two weeks after graduation. Her dream had always been to go to college and become a doctor. Chuck even offered to pay her college tuition, until Grandma stepped in and said, "No, you and Laura get married."

You see, Laura Longo and Chuck had been going together for about eight years, and Laura had given up hope of ever getting married because Chuck was helping to support his mother and siblings.

Parm and Gerald met when Gerald had to drive his sister, Laura, to Kane to visit Chuck.  And of course, Gerald had to be  entertained while in Kane, so Parm was elected. That's how the two Longos ended up marrying two Bifanos.

Parm and Gerald lived in the large Longo Homestead on East Main Street in Bradford, Pennsylvania, where Grace, Carole, and Victor were born.

Grace Maria Longo was born July 19, 1936, in Degolia, Pennsylvania.  Parm had picked out Connie Lou for her name, but Aunt Laura called her brother Gerald and told him the first granddaughter had to be named after their mother. So Gerald and Laura got their way.  Later on we found out that Grandma's real name was Ignazia!!!

Grace married Santo Bonfilio on August 11, 1956, in Bradford. "Squant," as he was called by everyone in Kane, was introduced to Grace by cousin Fran Perry Olson at the Moose Club in Kane.
They moved to New Jersey where Santo got a job as a teacher at the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf.  Eventually they moved to the suburbs, Kendall Park, where they lived with their four daughters for nearly 30 years, Rosanna (January 7, 1958), Valerie Catherine (August 1, 1959), Jennifer Marie (September 18, 1964), and Pamela (March 25, 1966).  The four girls were all destined to be Santo III, but Grace finally put her foot down after four--boy or no boy!

Grace and Santo have retired to a cabin in the Allegheny National Forest, spending the winters in Sarasota, Florida, and wearing out Route 80 across the state of Pennsylvania to visit their family.

Rosanna lives in Redwood City, California, with her boyfriend, Ron DeMattio, and is currently semi-retired from the Red Cross, where she has worked for the two decades when it didn’t interfere with her extensive travel.  She worked at the polls for the infamous recall election.  She voted against it incidentally! Ro and Ron met on December 13, 2000, at a Christmas party held at the local cable TV station. Just two weeks earlier, his friend convinced him to shave his balding head completely. He said that chicks dig a shaved head. He was right!  She spotted Ron's head across the room and it's been love ever since.  Rosanna and Ron are contemplating moving back East in the near future.

Valerie lives in Dayton, New Jersey, with her husband, Barry Potts, and their three children, Gianna Valerie (December 17, 1983), Whitney Barrie (December 2, 1985), Barry Santo (April 16, 1993).
Barry and Valerie have recently celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary. Their kids gave them a bash to remember forever! Barry is busy being a foreman on many jobs - including the NJ Devils Ice rink in Newark, NJ. Valerie is busy running Images Hair Design and continues to keep everyone looking great in stylish hairstyles!

Gianna has graduated from Seton Hall University with a bachelors degree in Nursing. She is currently working at St. Peters Hospital in New Brunswick, NJ on the Pediatric Floor. She is also working on her Masters Degree in Administration and Leadership in Nursing from Walden University MD. All coursework is done on-line. Gianna enjoys skiing and biking.

Whitney is currently working on her Bachelors degree at Farleigh Dickensen University in Hotel, Restaurant and Institution Management. She is in great health and enjoys country line dancing, skiing and biking. She had recently returned from Spain, sight-seeing and visiting friends.

Barry is currently in 8th grade. He enjoys wrestling, shot-put and discus. He loves to ski and bike, target shoot, and hunt for deer. He is looking forward to the beach in the summer.

Jennifer Marie lives in Hamilton Township, New Jersey, with her life partner, Shannan Hauser (married September 1, 2002).  They have a cat named Lucy and a puppy named Wiggy.  Jennifer is a broadcast captioner and currently provides closed captioning for television programs from home.  She has the honor of captioning The Jerry Springer Show (fortunately, none of our family has appeared on Jerry…yet!), Dr. Phil, local news out of San Diego and Houston, and the NFL.   Shannan is working as a carpenter's apprentice and will be a journeyman (-woman!) in two years.  Currently, they are having extensive remodeling done on their home.  They love the beach and enjoy spending time with friends and family.

Pamela lives in Pittstown, New Jersey, with her husband, Michael Iannozzi (married August 26, 1995), their two boys, and their dog, Denver.  Cody Michael (June 11, 1997), who is in first grade, is very active and extremely bright and can beat Grandma and Aunt Jen at Othello.  And Hunter Santo (February 3, 2003), the newest addition to the family, is just starting to crawl and sportin’ a couple of front teeth.  Pam is a busy stay-at-home mom and a Mary Kay Consultant.   Mike gave up the restaurant business and is now in the computer business and goes hunting every chance he gets.

Carole Ann Longo was born in Kane, Pennsylvania, June 22, 1940.  Gerald named her after Carole Lombard because it was around that time she was killed in a plane crash.  Carole married Edward Harris and had three boys, Edward Patrick (March 28, 1964), Gregory Scott (October 6, 1965), and Jeffrey Steven (January 24, 1969).  Besides enjoying her grand-tots, Carole has three grand-Lab dogs--Maggie, Max and Max's son Mazie.  She enjoys freelance writing.  Several of her stories based on Bifano history have been published in PRIMO, an up-and-coming magazine that preserves Italian-American culture, and The Anthracite Journal. She is a field operations assistant for Experience Works, a federal program to help seniors find employment.  Carole currently lives in Newtown, Pennsylvania.

Eddie lives in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Sue (married May 30, 1992) and their two boys, Sean (March 23, 1998) and Ryan (October 1, 2000).  Sean survived open-heart surgery in August 2003 and is doing great. He loves to play cards, especially War.   Ryan loves to dance with the zydeco music.   Eddie coached Sean's T-Ball team last spring.   Eddie and Sue just recently bought a beach house in Sea Isle City, New Jersey.  Eddie and Sue have known each other since junior high school--you might even call them high school sweethearts--with a few years between high school and actually getting back together and getting married.   Eddie is the Vice President of Sales for a paper company.  He primarily works out of their Marlton, New Jersey, headquarters but manages to spend a fair amount of time golfing, taking clients to sporting events, and deep-sea fishing.  Sue is a Marketing Consultant to pharmaceutical companies.

Greg lives in Cooperstown, New York, with his wife, Deirdre (married July 3, 1994), and their two children, Alexandra Elisabeth (October 19, 1998) and Jack Bruce Gerald (July 16, 2000).  Deirdre was born in Germany and lived there through high school.   They met in the late 1980s through mutual friends.  In 1993 Deirdre established The Rose Garden Nursery School, Cooperstown's Waldorf school, www.rosegardenschool.org.  She serves as the director and lead teacher.  Greg is the school janitor and newsletter editorJ--and in addition is the Director of Development for the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. They spend most of their time restoring an old barn--that they live in--and clearing snow from the driveway.

Jeff lives in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Veronica (married May 28, 2000), and their daughter Natalie May (September 19, 2002).  Jeff works for FreeMarkets, Inc., as a Market-making Engineer (mostly he puts together technical proposals for online auctions). Veronica stays home with Natalie. They met in Cooperstown in 1992.  Smalltown, boy meets girlJ  And they are expecting their second child at the end of June!

Victor Anthony Longo was born in Kane, Pennsylvania, on December 6, 1944.  Gerald named him for "victory over Japan."
That was about the only thing "the Doll" (Gerald's pet name for Parm) allowed him to do--name the three kids!!  Vic married Ann Dorene Ekas on June 21, 1969.  Many of us remember their wedding--Parm’s worst nightmare--they ran out of food!!  You know that never happened again at ANY family event!

Vic and Ann have three kids, Rebecca Ellen (February 28, 1971—Leap Year Baby!), Mary Beth (July 7, 1973), and Steven (January 6, 1975).  Vic and Ann live in Bradford, Pennsylvania.  Vic is in charge of building and grounds maintenance at the McDowell Sports Center at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford.  Ann is a daycare provider in her home with daughter Becky and has been selling Avon products for 29 years--Ding-Dong!

Rebecca Ellen lives with her boyfriend, Jay Leroy McLaughlin, in Parm and Gerald’s old house on Rochester Street in Bradford, which they bought in June 2001.  Becky met Jay through a mutual friend they had.  She dated the brother and Jay dated the sister. Jay is a tool and dye maker for Elcam Tool and Dye in Wilcox, Pennsylvania, and Becky provides daycare with her mother in her mother's home and is an avid scrapbooker in her spare time.  They don't have any kids, but they do have two cats--Duncan and Reggie.

Mary Beth lives in Olean, New York, with her husband, Eric Michael Garvin (married May 27, 1995), and their two children, Sophia Marie (May 1, 2000) and Maxwell Anthony (July 21, 2003).  Mary and Eric met in May of 1991 in Bradford at a mutual friend's party.  Eric is the Assistant Vice President/Commercial Lender at Community Bank in Olean, New York.  And Mary Beth is a Media Lab Supervisor and Adjunct Instructor in the School of Journalism/Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University.

Steven lives in Bradford, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Melissa (married September 21, 2002).  Steve met Melissa at the Local Moose Club on a Friday night they think in 1998.  Don’t ask them, though.  They can’t remember.  They moved into their first and only home the following month. Steve works at Case Cutlery on the cover line making knives and Melissa at Beacon Light Behavioral Health working with at-risk youth in the school system and community.  They are expecting their first child with an estimated due date of June 1, 2004.

 Parm and Gerald gave up the old homestead on East Main in the '70s.  It was too much work for them.  They moved to Rochester Street, where the family spent many a holidays.  It was a small house, but somehow we managed—wall-to-wall kids sleeping on the floor and only one bathroom!  But we always had a good time there.  The kids especially loved to spin around on their “lazy Susan” coffee table and flop around on their orange ottomans.  There was always a wonderful aroma of somethin’ cookin’ in Parm’s kitchen.   And it was never quiet. 

After retirement, they bought a mobile home in Sarasota, Florida, where they spent five months a year, always stopping at Grace’s and Carole’s homes for a visit and to deliver the Cookies!!  Parm had a big can for each kid.

Gerald always kept us entertained with his malapropisms--slower than molasses in January; colder than a witches tit; slap the bread (meaning to pass it).  He ate one piece of popcorn atop a pat of oleo on a fork, and he loved his sports.  You could always find him in his green chair watching a ballgame.  

On August 22, 1988, Gerald died in Bradford Hospital after a six-month bout with cancer.  His hospital room overlooked the Bradford High School football field.  His favorite pastime was going to the games and watching the Bradford Owls play. He was 80 years old. 

Parm died on November 21, 2000, at the Bradford Nursing Pavilion.  She was the last of the Bifano clan and was able to attend the 50th Bifano Reunion just two months before. That was her greatest joy, that she was able to see 200 of her relatives gathered together in one room. She was 86 years old.

We’ll always have fond memories of Parm in the kitchen.  She loved to cook for her family.  Some of us can remember arriving at 45 Rochester Street late at night after a long trip, sleepy and confused.  Within ten minutes, Parm would have the biggest spread on the dining room table, everything from homemade pizza to fried zucchini to meatballs and homemade ricotta pie. And we were happy to eat itJ

We have a celebrity in the family! This appeared in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette /January, 2004: Natalie Harris, 15 months, flaps her mother's gloves while looking for pigeons while walking with her mom, Veronica Harris, of the North Side, following a trip to the Carnegie Library branch at Allegheny Center.

Natalie is growing up fast... and obviously a Penn State fan! How beautiful is she!