Omaha might not be the first place that comes to mind when considering a community with a rich Italian heritage. However, Italians are, in fact, the Gateway to the West's fourth-largest ethnic group. Two-thirds of that population claims roots in the small Syracuse Province town of Carlentini, Sicily. Their ancestors first arrived in the late 19th century, pursuing opportunities with the railroad and in construction, smelting, and meatpacking. The Carlentini families brought their devotion to Santa Lucia, their town's patron saint, leading to the 1925 founding of Omaha's annual Santa Lucia Festival.
Within the waves of immigrants from Carlentini, a widow named Lucia Ciculla arrived in 1913 with her daughters in search of a better life. Her family has lived in Omaha's Little Italy for generations. Today, her great-great-granddaughter Sheri Kanger, director and co-founder of the Sicula Italia Association and co-founder of the Carlentini Omaha Association, is working on strengthening the connection to her ancestral home. After much coordination and trips back and forth to Sicily, Sheri hopes to see the two locales linked as sister cities later this year.
Sheri shared the inspiration for the Carlentini Omaha Association, its path to sister city status, their accomplishments, and what the organization hopes to deliver.
What led you down this path toward connecting Carlentini with Omaha?
My whole journey started in 2011 when I started asking my grandfather questions about his grandmother. He told me she was buried right down the street, a few blocks from my grandfather's house, up on a hill.
My grandfather told me how close he was to his grandmother, and that's the part that got me because I was so close to my grandparents. When he passed away in 2014, I told my husband, Ken, "Nobody's buying Grandpa's house. Let's buy it."
So, we sold our 3,400-square-foot home and bought a 950-square-foot home. Shortly after that, I went to the cemetery and archdiocese offices and said, "I don't quite know where my grandmother's buried. Can you give me some information?"
The gal asks, "Well, when was she buried?" And I'd seen a photo from my sister, so I said, "On her headstone, it just said her first and last name, the year she was born, and the year she died." I showed the photo, and they said, "Well, we need to know what month."
It dawned on me that in 2011, when I was asking my grandpa questions about his grandmother, he said she was really sick and dying of cancer when it was close to the festival time. He remembered looking out the window with his grandmother on the edge of her bed. The saints were coming down the street, the band was playing, and the whole procession was going by. So I knew it was late August since it's been celebrated at the same time for years and years.
I said, "Let's start with August." So, the lady went and got these big books because they weren't in the computer system. She went down the list, through all of August and all of September, and found my great-grandmother's name and that she died September 29, 1939.
She got me the plot map, and it dawned on me: I remembered my grandfather saying he didn't like that her cameo was missing, that it must have fallen off and broken, and that it bothered him that her picture was not on the headstone anymore. So, I just blurted out, "Do you have a lost and found?"
The lady turned around and pulled a cookie tin from a file cabinet. She opened the lid and pulled out three cameos. One was a young soldier, the second was an old woman who didn't look Italian, and the third was someone who looked like she could be related.
She looked like my sister, and I remembered my grandpa saying my sister always reminded him of her. She's got these blue eyes—bright, light blue. My mom had those eyes, and it's a very rare recessive trait. In this black-and-white photo, you could tell that the eyes were light, so I took a picture of them. I sent the picture to my sister, and she said, "Where'd you find her?" And I said, "Is that her?" And she said, "Yes."
I said, "Well, I just left the archdiocese." She said, "Go back." I went back, and all three cameos were still lying out on the shelf on the counter. I grabbed my great-great-grandmother's and I left.
I had it remade because I knew retelling that story would be hard if I put that same cameo back on. I told my great aunt, who would be my grandfather's sister, and she insisted on paying for a new cameo.
We had a little ceremony with my great aunt and one of my cousins. My son, my niece, and my sister were there. We all went and put this thing back on with glue, and to this day, it's still on there. It's been there for almost 10 years.
I brought the original cameo back to my house. I have my grandparents' remains, so I put the cameo on the box of remains.
Sheri Kanger's great-great-grandmother's cameo
Tell us how and why the Carlentini Omaha Association formed.
I went to Carlentini with Ken in 2017, and our marriage was blessed in the mother church there. There was this instantaneous connection—just being in that city, feeling like these are my roots. I am half Italian and a quarter Carlentinese, but those are some strong roots!
It was so inspiring to me. I had been a member of the Sons and Daughters of Italy. But when I returned, I became part of the Santa Lucia Festival organization and the American Italian Heritage Society.
In 2018, Santa Lucia Festival's members wanted to take a trip to Carlentini for the 400th anniversary of the celebration of Santa Lucia in 2021. I stood up at a meeting before I even talked to my husband, and I volunteered to put the whole trip together. People were excited, and at that point, 100 people wanted to go. But when I told them, "There's a $500 deposit, and this is what the actual amount is," it changed. So, roughly 50 of us planned to go to Italy in 2021.
As I was putting this trip together, our mayor in Omaha was also working on a sister city relationship with France because Omaha Beach has that connection with Omaha, Nebraska. I thought, "There's got to be something we can do with all the Italians I've grown up with."
So, I contacted the Omaha Sister City Association (OSCA). When I finally got a response and met with them, they told me certain requirements were involved. They didn't think people in Omaha would be interested in having a sister city with Carlentini.
I said, "I think you're wrong about that. I just came back from there in 2017, and there are people here and there who would both be interested in formalizing this relationship because we've always had this sister bond." I mean, even symbolically, in my own family, the three sisters who were separated from each other, cousins who have been separated across the world for generations.
I met with a lady named Carmelita De LaGuardia, who has a similar background to mine. Once she found out I was putting this trip together for 2021, she said, "My family's out there in Carlentini; they want to know who you are." I told her my family history and that I was a Ciculla. She said, "I'm Ciculla, too. We're related!"
She and I decided to contact OSCA and set up a meeting. We met with them and shared information about the enclaves, the Italian population, and all of the things those people did to create the city as it is today.
The person from OSCA looked at both of us and said, "Why haven't Omaha and Carlentini already been sister cities? This is amazing information." They wanted to know more, so I wrote and submitted the application in 2020.
My husband was the deputy chief of police then and had cabinet meetings with the mayor of Omaha. Mayor Jean Stothert just happened to come across this application from OSCA, saying they wanted to establish a relationship between Omaha and Carlentini. And she said, "Why is Catania applying for a sister city when France is not solidified, yet?"
My husband responded, "It's Carlentini."
The mayor asked, "How do you know?" And Ken responded, "My wife submitted the application for Carlentini to pursue the sister city connection."
She then said, "I'd like to go to Italy. This would be kind of a neat thing. Tell me more."
Our 2021 trip actually derailed because of COVID. The mayor then went up with my husband, me, and an OSCA representative in 2022. It was shortly after that that we formalized the "friendship agreement." It's like your engagement before your wedding ceremony, so to speak. In August, the formalization of Carlentini as a sister city will occur.
Mayor Jean Stothert signs the Carlentini-Omaha sister city "friendship agreement," while Carlentini Mayor Giuseppe Stefio simultaneously does the same.
In 2020, when we were all in shutdown mode, we needed somebody on the other side in Carlentini who could also speak English and help us facilitate and get this moving. It just so happened that my travel guides had to pivot while in shutdown and were doing these live feeds from different cities and places. They ended up introducing the world to a travel guide named Eleanora Formica, who would be my travel guide.
I contacted her on Messenger and said, "My family's from Carlentini; this is their name." She said, "I went to school with your younger cousin, Laura."
We started an instant friendship, teamed up with Carmelita, and started the Carlentini Omaha Association. We signed documents in Carlentini in October 2020. From there, our relationship was like a sisterhood, the three of us girls. We thought of all kinds of programs, projects, and events that could better strengthen that bond between our two cities moving forward. We've since had six different grade schools involved in pen pal programs. We've had three galas and have done all kinds of different things.
On this end, Carmelita, three others, and I started the Sicula Italia Foundation to help fund programs we would do with Carlentini. Then, it took a different route. Some of us found that it would be easier to do individual projects.
In November 2023, I got a call from an elementary school teacher and Eleanora in Carlentini. They wanted to do a physical exchange and bring elementary school children to Omaha for a week. I set up an itinerary and a place for them to stay.
I did not have any funds. Since the Carlentini Omaha Association was actually in Carlentini, this was going to be a challenge to do on my own. I contacted Omaha Public Schools with the signage at the bottom saying Carlentini Omaha Association. They sent me a contract back with Carlentini Omaha Association at the top.
I said, "I can't do this with just my name, so I went ahead and formed Carlentini Omaha Association U.S.A. Incorporated. That's how we were able to reach an agreement with the Omaha Public School system and have the kids from Carlentini come over.
The kids loved being in Omaha for the week. They met kids of Carlentini descent, which was a big plus for them. They started new relationships and friendships.
Two community events took place at the Sons and Daughters of Italy Hall, where they worked with me and hosted a potluck dinner one night and then a genealogy meeting another night with the kids. My husband helped me put together a big program with the Police Athletics for Community Engagement program (PACE). We had kids from Omaha who were of Carlentini descent playing with kids from Carlentini on a team called Carlentini Omaha Association, fully outfitted with soccer gear, playing against kids who were of primarily Hispanic descent with PACE, playing the game that's universal to the world: soccer.
Over 150 people attended this event. It's just something that's near and dear to my heart, and I want to continue strengthening that relationship.
Omaha kids welcome exchange students arriving from Carlentini.
What do you hope to share with your community?
I taught for 26 years and had a project in one of my classes where the kids had to show pictures of their families. I called it the "All About Me" project. Knowing who you are and where you come from is important, and diversity makes us understand and appreciate each other more. Those differences make us understand each other and not hide that we're not all the same.
Understanding different cultures and respecting, honoring, and continuing traditions is important. It's also important for the people in Carlentini and for us to be able to help fund projects and continue to work with them.
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