Golden Glances

Pat Ciccotello, former Portage resident, is the author of 'Passport Please'

(The Dispatch, Wednesday, August 3, 2005)

by Emily Stewart

    "Aloha all the way from sunny Hawaii where we make tourists laugh more, so they will make repeat visits.  Tourism is our major industry...we need the business!"

    That's the start of a letter we received from former Portage resident, Patrick A. "Pat" Ciccotello, who now resides in Honolulu.

    He is the author of the book, "Passport Please, Tales of Worldwide Adventures," which is available at the Portage Public Library.

    Ciccotello said he dedicated the book to his friends, who told him, "Pat, you should write a book about your travels."

    "The book tells you about life in the foreign countries where I worked as a federal employee," he said.  "And tales of my worldwide adventures."

    "It is not a travel book, but some of the information could be helpful for globe-trotting by yourself.  That's what I did, traveling thousands of miles by airliner and overland to some fo the most exotic places in the world."

    Born and raised in Portage, he is a 1944 graduate of Portage Borough High School.

    Ciccotello said, "I was born April 3, 1926, at home, the eighth child of Italian immigrants, Carmela and Giuseppe Ciccotello, parents of eight boys and one girl."

    He served honorably with the U.S. Army Airborne during World War II.  Cicotello dropped out of college to follow a career in federal service, making the world his university.

    Ciccotello notes, "Happiness is being single.  I want to be remembered as a happy, globetrotting bachelor who leaves this world with many fond memories of worldwide experiences.  Life taught me that you cannot have it all, but I sure tried."

    He chose his niece, Gina Ciccotello, to write the forward to this article.  She is the daughter of John and Peg Cicotello, former Portage residents.  She writes:

    "Uncle Pat has spent his entire life traveling the globe, sometimes as part of military duty, other times looking for civilian work, and often purely for the sake of enjoyment and curiosity.  We estimate Uncle Pat has been to over 200 different countries.  Depending on when you count them and what the political situations are at the the time, that adds up to "almost all" the countries of the world.  As I write this, the actual number is less the that, which means he's been to countries that don't even exist anymore.

    "As he went to all of those fascinating places, he documented his journeys in the form of letters back to his family.  Uncle Pat's letters, superinfused with his own peculiar lingo and writing style, provide vivid illustrations from his poignant individual perspective, which everyone remembers which great fondness.  I have always been flattered and proud to receive one of his hand-scrawled letters from abroad, sometimes with photos or well-chosen trinkets enclosed. He was always generous with gifts; and everyone in the family cherishes their unique mementos from his trips.  Huge eating utensils, forks and spoons, hand-carved from wood and shipped from Thailand became know as the "Ciccotello family crest."

    "eventually, he was inspired to chronicle all of his travels and adventures into a more complete and enduring format; this book is a result of that effort.  It was formalized, copyrighted, and printed on paper in September of 1999.  Later in December of 2004, this electronic PDF format was created so it could be copied to portable media and be shared more widely.

    "As of today, Uncle Pat is 78 years old, is still in good health and enjoying life one day at a time.  He lives in a high-rise co-op apartment with an ocean view, about two blocks from Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii.

    "And he is still traveling.  Every time he books another flight somewhere, he tells us "This is my last trip."  He's been saying it for so many years, nobody believes him anymore.  The trips are to accomplish his goal, "to see the world before leaving it."  Uncle Pat said he wants to depart this world, his final journey, with a smile on his face and feeling of mission accomplished.

    "Uncle Pat also wrote another book, documenting the Ciccotello/Cicotello family history.  It is titled 'A Family Legacy,' and was produced in print (only) in January 1994."