Mystery Assignment
March 20, 2019
Word Count: 526
Suggested head: Salvatore Marino, on the edge of 100.
Alex Filipe

If you ask Salvatore Marino what the secret is to being healthy at the age of 99 he will tell you to “live life in a happy way.” Salvatore recounts his past while sitting on an old barbershop waiting chair in his garage; with a small vegetable garden behind him and some old barbershop equipment Salvatore lights a cigarette and tells his story. “I was born in Italy… [I worked] as a barber, then in the Army for a few years,” those days in the army was when he first picked up smoking, a habit which he has kept up since he was 21; although he has since cut back “I only smoke 5 to 8 cigarettes since turning 70.” Salvatore’s role in WW2 was in transporting and supplying Mussolini’s Italian front line. “It was someone else pushing us” Salvatore says. “If it was up to me, there would have been no fighting or war. I know that there was no single Italian that would be fighting; They would be home if they had the choice.” While supplying the front line Salvatore was eventually captured by English forces and served four years as a prisoner of war. After getting released, Salvatore and other POW’s were offered to either work on an orchard or in the mines, “For those of us who wanted to stay in england, they let us, but we didn't get a choice of work.” Salvatore remembers the farmer who applied for him to stay and work fondly. “At one point, one of my employers told me: ‘if you would change your name & learn to speak welsh, no one could tell that you weren't one of us’.” Salvatore’s wife of 70 years, Sarifina, remembers moving to England when Salvatore was released “since they found someone to apply for him everyone moved.” Sarifina continued to say, ”the welsh people were very nice to us, I went there and couldn't speak english but I never felt like I was a foreigner.” Even though Sarifina and Salvatore were able to live comfortably in England, the lack of opportunities to grow finally made the family move to Canada in 1957, Salvatore says “I came to canada with 2 kids and the first year we were here I had a 3rd one. Three boys.” Spending the first five years in Kingston, Salvatore and Sarafina decided to settle in Belleville and open up a Barbershop and Salon called Quattro’s nearby; Having his barber shop close to him was a conscious choice for Salvatore, “It wasn't my style to drive to work.” Salvatore worked and ran Quattro’s for 38 years until he retired. In those 38 years he managed to grow the business to ten locations across Ontario; it wasn't always that successful. Salvatore remembers, “We were very busy at the start, then the Quinte Mall came and took away a lot of our customers.” Even with the competition of Qunite mall, Salvatore has kept the Salon open to this day. As Salvatore finished reciting his past he looks towards the future: “I plan to spend my 100th birthday in Italy, and I just hope to be in good health.”