Guy Paul Cicotello

Born: February 11, 1912

Baptism: March 31, 1912

Married: December 31, 1942

Died: May 3, 1984

Gaetano is Italian for Guy. Since little of no English was spoken at home until Guy and his brother Louis started school, he was probably called Gaetano (more often than Guy) by his parents and the Italian relatives staying at his home.

At the request of his parents, he dropped out of school at age thirteen to begin working, which was common in those days for lots of kids from poor immigrant families. He was sent to live with his Uncle Mike and Aunt Donatella Finelli in Altoona, Pennsylvania, where he trained and worked as a barber until he returned to Portage during the early 1930s to open his first barber shop. Is was located on Main Street, where for years he worked with his brother Nick, also a barber, until Nick opened his own shop across the street from Guy's. Guy's barber shop soon developed into a hairdressing salon for men and women. On January 19, 1937, with the help of his parents, who mortgaged the their house for $500, Guy bought a two-story building on Main Street. He moved his shop into the ground floor of the building, formerly a jewelry store, that was remodeled into a modern unisex hairdressing salon with the latest equipment. It was successful from the beginning.

Guy was one of the best women's hair stylists in the area. Most of the women were repeat customers, some brought to the shop by their mother when they were little girls for their first haircut. They grew up, married, and later brought their daughters to Guy's for their first haircut.

Guy did not give appointments for haircuts and he didn't charge much, either. Customers were willing to wait their turn for Guy to cut and trim their hair. If the shop was full of waiting customers, some were even willing to stand in front of the shop waiting patiently for their turn, especially during the summer months, some traveling quite a distance for their periodic haircut. Guy won two trophies during the thirties for hair styling at the Annual Convention for Hairdressers in New York City.

Guy, who volunteered his service, was active in the community, a member of St. Joseph's Catholic Church and various civic groups. For years he was in charge of the swimming pool at the Chrichton-McCormick Park in Portage.

Guy married his long time beau, Mary Sparks, a teacher-librarian, in a simple church wedding during the Christmas school break of 1942. Brother Pat was the best man for the wedding. Because there was so much snow and ice on the sidewalks, our mother complained of having trouble walking to the church for the wedding, remaking that "they picked one heck of a time to get married after such a long courtship". The old Sparks residence on Main Street was home for Guy and Mary where they raised their two kids, Michael and Juliana, and retired. Mary worked as a teacher for the Portage Borough School until Mike was born. She became a working mother when Michael and Juliana were in their teens, returning to work for the Portage Elementary School as a librarian until she retired in 1972.

Guy was always in good health until he had a slight stroke in his later years from which he recovered. He returned to work until he had a second stroke in 1972 that forced him into retirement. Andy Raptosh III, a hair stylist married to Mary's niece Rosemary Quinn, took over the shop and in 1976 bought the building. Guy was able to get around during retirement, even traveling to Honolulu, Hawaii with Mary, where they spent a winter, enjoying life in the paradise of the Pacific. Guy worked hard all his life. White in Hawaii, Guy remarked to Brother Pat that "once a jackass, always a jackass" which may be is how he felt about himself. Both Guy and Mary died peacefully at home; Guy first in May 1984 and then Mary seven months later in December.

-taken from "A Family Legacy" by Patrick A. Ciccotello

President of the Portage Area School Board

Tribune Democrat Clipping - December 15, 1966

Second Newspaper Clipping

Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus (1943- 1946)

Past Grand Knight Certificate

Letter from Nick to Guy

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