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Niemann's story tells of deep roots and hard work

When Kay Niemann's book Salone Italiano was released late last summer, it got a little initial buzz.

The local history buffs started reading it and passing copies around until it became a bona fide local hit.

Niemann did extensive research for the book, which is about her Italian forbears who came to this area in the late 1800s and early 1900s. She read letters that were sent to and from relatives still back in Italy, conducted oral histories and learned a lot about several branches of her family. In fact, she was so inspired by her research that she wrote and recorded a CD of music inspired by their experiences and her research.

On Saturday, Niemann was the featured speaker at the American Association of University Women's Book and Author Luncheon. The event was held at the Student Memorial Lounge at Fort Lewis College, and the room was packed with women—and men—who wanted to learn more about her genealogical research and what it reveals about our little corner of the world.

The luncheon was a buffet of Italian food, of course. And Niemann was a charming speaker, with much of her family present, including her mother, Lena Babey, who still lives in Durango.

Money raised from the luncheon will be donated to the AAUW Educational Foundation, which helps deserving women attend graduate school and conduct research. One of the foundation's most famous recipients was Marie Curie. The foundation helped her to purchase radium for her experiments. Durango Herald, March 22, 2006.

My Turn

by Charlie Langdon

Durango Herald, March 18, 2005

Italian settlers' family histories a fine story. Family history is sometimes the best sort of history. This is clearly the case with Salone Italiano, Kay Niemann's informative and dramatic history of Italian immigrants in Silverton and Durango. Indeed, her book is, perhaps, the most compelling narrative chronicle of the Four Corners that I've yet had the pleasure to read.

I was unfamiliar with the recently published work until my wife Laura brought home a copy she had purchased from our longtime friend Nikki Bonaventura Morrissey at Durango Antiques Market. Both Nikki's mother, Sylvia, and her late father, Nick Bonaventura, are mentioned in Niemann's book. Furthermore, there is a photo of Nick as a youngster in 1926.

Indeed, there are nearly 100 photos in the book, as well as illustrations by Niemann's artist sister, Carla Urban. It was while glancing over the photos that I realized that I should take a closer look at the text. Many of the names were somewhat familiar to me.

Among them are Sartore, Giordano, Boggio, Dalla, Baudino and many others.

I opened the book on Saturday morning, read it all day with increasing admiration and excitement, and finished it on Monday. I called Nikki, who agreed on the book's excellence. She then gave me the author's phone number. A Durango native, Niemann currently resides with her husband, Jon, near Los Angeles. She is the daughter of Lena Baudino Babey, who still lives here. Self-described "corporate gypsies," the author and her husband have, in the past 30 years, lived in seven states and two foreign countries.

I mention all the above names because they well indicate the importance of family relationships in Niemann's chronicle. Indeed, her story is a veritable Who's Who among local Italian Americans.
Family members ran the Bellevue Saloon in Silverton and the Mascot Saloon in Durango. Hence, the title Salone Italiano. The book is the result of the discovery of more than 150 letters written from Colorado to family members in the Piedmont region of northern Italy from 1903 to 1940.

Niemann writes that she "was alerted to the letters by a distant cousin. Another cousin, Lino Naretto, had found the letters while cleaning out the attic of the family home. Realizing their historical value, Naretto had organized and numbered them in preparation for publication."

When I called Niemann, she continued the story of how the book came about. "I was excited by the letters from the beginning and my cousins invited me to help out with the publishing project. However, I soon realized that I didn't personally know enough to go forward without help." She spread word of the letters to friends and family, wondering how she could put all the pieces together.

On an extended visit here, she enlisted the aid of Silverton writer Freda Carley Peterson, author of The Story of Hillside Cemetery, a collection of biographies. She advised Niemann that the letters alone needed a deeper context so the reader could comprehend the full extent of the story. "She told me it might be best if I used the letters as the foundation of the story and that I should write it as a lightly fictionalized historical novel." She then went on notifying members of her extended family of the letters and asking for any information they might add. Indeed, she notified so many people that one wit wrote back, "the world is small and shaped like a boot."

It took Niemann four and a half years to write her book. At that time, she was living in Sydney, Australia. She used friends there as readers of the early chapters. They apparently liked what they read. One of them advised her on the specifics of minerals and ores.

A publication party for the book was held here by Niemann in September. The event was covered by Ann Butler in her column "Neighbors."

Salone Italiano is published by Western Reflections. The price is $16.95. Copies are available at Maria's Bookshop, as well as at Durango Antiques Market.

Charlie Langdon is the Herald's senior critic. Durango Herald,

Wisconsin Book Watch
February, 2006
Fiction Shelf

Salone Italiano
Kay Niemann
Western Reflections Publishing Co.
219 Main Street, Montrose, CO 81401
www.westernreflectionspub.com
1932738258 $16.95 1-800-993-4490

A historical novel with impeccable attention to background detail, Kay Niemann's Salone Italiano is based upon the true story of an immigrant family's efforts to survive and make a life for themselves in the southwestern Colorado mining towns of Silverton and Durango. Based almost entirely on actual letters written by members of the family, Salone Italiano reads with the fluidity of a fine masterpiece as it chronicles Angelina Sartore's struggle to keep the family together, Katie Sartore's forbidden romance with a member of a rival immigrant colony, to Phil Sartore's love affair with a well-known local prostitute, the threat of danger and gunfire, and more. A fascinating glimpse into daily life, triumphs, and travails of the distant past.

Neighbors
by Ann Butler
Durango Herald, Sept. 7, 2005

Italian roots run deep in Durango
There are a lot of stories yet to be told about the early days of Durango and Silverton. Kay Niemann has brought a new view to the past with Salone Italiano, her book about several Italian-American families who were influential in both communities.

Naretto is related to a prominent Italian family from the area’s early days, the Baudinos. Over the generations, several other names have become part of the story. Satori. Giardino. Bonaventura.

The book is also a family affair in other ways. Niemann’s sister, Carla Urban, added pen-and-ink drawings. Second-cousin Angela Peila Sundquist helped translate the letters and added scripted dialect into the story.

Niemann made a lot of connections to past generations during her research. Jeanette Naretto Lamay’s father, John Naretto, came from Italy to work in the Morning Star Coal Mine in 1922. It was located six miles west of Durango and was owned by his uncles, John and Tony Baudino. Genevieve Trione Robinson had only heard about Durango, but had maintained a steady correspondence with her first cousin, Connie Bonaventura Trontel, for over 70 years. The cousins met for the first time after the book was written. When second, um third?, cousin Dee Cleary heard about the project, she was so excited that she and her husband, Mike, flew from Jefferson City, Mo., to Sydney, Australia, where Niemann was living at the time.

Niemann, who was born and raised in Durango, graduated from Durango High School in 1961, and went on to earn her bachelor’s degree at Western State College. She spent much of her adult life as a music teacher and now lives in Westlake Village, Calif.

Her book is available at Maria’s Bookshop, Antiquities, the Durango Antique Market and the Animas Museum. It also can be found at several stores in Silverton and on amazon.com and barnesandnoble.com.

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