Around New England
You Only Turn 111 Once
December 5, 2018
Gina Galvani got an early birthday celebration at the Framingham City Council meeting on Tuesday, December 4, including a cake and a resolution in her honor.
Galvani is, you guessed it, Framingham’s oldest resident.
She was born December 16, 1907 in Castell’Arquato, a town about 61 miles southeast of Milan, Italy.
She immigrated to the United States in 1930 with her husband John, who was born in Framingham. The 1930 federal census lists John and Gina living as boarders at a house at 592 Waverley Street (Route 135) in Framingham. John Galvani is listed as working as a laborer in road construction.
In the 1940 federal census, he is listed as still working in road construction, while Gina stitches in an apron factory, and they have two children: a girl, Ave, 11, and a boy, Carlo, 9. They are renting at 9 Larrabee Avenue in Framingham, near Route 135.
John Galvani died in 1978.
The couple have two children, eight grandchildren, 18 great-grandchildren, and eight great-great-grandchildren, according to the Framingham Source.
Gina’s daughter Ave, who was also a longtime Framingham resident, died this past January at age 89. Her son Carlo died in 1997.
But many of Gina’s other descendants were on hand during the City Council celebration Tuesday, according to the Framingham Source.