The Conversation for 03/04/2026

0:00Sharing our stories connects us. Listen and be connected. Join us for the conversation meeting weekly, at the intersection of community and culture. Posted by... And here we are. It's another Wednesday. It's a beautiful Wednesday. Actually, the weather's a little bit too warm for me, Joey. Little too warm already. I'm just going to say it. Too warm too early. Yeah, too warm too early. Hi, everybody. Thanks for tuning in. This is WMNF 88.5. It is Wednesday. It's noon-ish. And if it's noon-ish, you know you're listening to the conversation. I'm your host, Mario Nunez. Alongside my co-host, Jo King Carter, you've already heard his voice. Joey, say hello. Good afternoon. Huh? Hey, what a beautiful day, folks. Beautiful day in the neighborhood, Joey. That's right. But you've been up too, pal. What did you do this last week? How many tours did you do?

1:00How many successful tours did you do? Oh, they're always successful, brother. A lot. Yeah, this is the season for... If you're someone who's in the kind of the business, this is the season. And I stopped doing tours typically around June, June 15th. So it becomes too warm. And they are here, tourists are visiting. Yes, they are. The Canadians are not. They are way down on our... On the Swansea River. On our spreadsheet. Yeah. Yeah, they're down. They're not coming. Well, you know, they've been... That's a segue. They've been pooped on by our president. We can talk a little bit about the economic impact of the administration and what they're doing to everything including gas prices here. Hey, Joey, did you have a beef with Iran? I mean, I didn't even know where it was on the map. I'm not sure I could have found it. I'm flying. I knew where it was. But I didn't have a beef with them necessarily. Well, you know, this is... They've been wanting to do this forever. And actually, BB Netanyahu has been wanting to do it forever.

2:02Correct. And that's really what it's about. And as you well know, our president is simply a puppet under BB's hands. So that's what's happening. It's our history, though. It's our history. I mean, if you honest about it and you're studying, you look back a little bit. You know that we are a nation on war footing. And we are always too eager to go do something silly with a bomb and an airplane and an aircraft carrier. So, you know, I don't know. Joey, you're 70, blah, blah, boom. And I'm right behind you. And I'm wondering if we're ever going to live a decade of our lives without being in some kind of a conflict or a war. Well, I don't know. Have we known that during maybe the time of JFK and we almost got into one with Cuba? We weren't in any wars under my cousin. Yeah, Jimmy Carter, you know, and he gets a bad rap. He gets a bad rap. And people will say that they'll call us in and tell us the thing about Iran and the hostages. We're not going to talk about this. He was set up on that one. We've got a wonderful guest that we're going to get to it a second.

3:02But I'm just going to tell you this. And maybe our guest today, Mary Francis is smiling at us. Maybe when we get to her and we talk about the 70s because that was a decade of note. I refer to it as the decade of dance because and dance is something that Mary Francis knows. I think her too about. I think that period of time coming out of Vietnam after Richard Nixon and of course Gerald Ford. You know, Jimmy Carter ushered in that those four years were men from 76 to 80. I don't know that I was ever taller because of my platform shoes number one. I don't know that I was better because of my long hair. And I don't know that I ever smelled better man because I mean I wore out that Jovan musk. But what I'm saying is it was a fun time. It was fun. Well, and I don't know anybody who would tell me that the end of the decade of the 70s. You know, when when when John Travolta dawned the three piece white suit. Yes. And he took to the dance floor. Yes. The game was on, brother.

4:02Yeah, yeah. But the 80s began something that was not very pleasant. So the 70s was still yeah. So, you know, really if you want, this is a theme for another show another day. Yes, sir. But the great, really the great moment, one of the great moments in all Western civilization was from 1950 to 1980 in America and Europe. Here in America post World War II. Unprecedented growth. The baby civil rights act. Women's rights. We had the birth of rock and roll, the birth of television. Television. We went to the moon and we had a large middle class. And do you know what all of that was tied to? Yes. Organized labor. No. Sorry. It was tied to the fact that the wealthy in America were paying between 70 and 90% taxes. And they weren't trying to get out of it. I thought you were going to pay their dues. And they paid for the federal state in interstate highway system.

5:02And so here's my point. Go ahead. Tax the rich folks. Yes. And don't let them get away with murder, which is what they are literally getting away with now. And 167 young girls under the age of 18 murdered in Iran from a bomb, a cruise missile that came off of the USS Abraham Lincoln. Yep. So folks, we are involved in something now that is ugly and it's going to come back on us. Speaking of Jimmy Carter, history tells us that the long view is the best view. And some day Jimmy Carter will be seen for being the great president in many ways that he was. I still, I still regard him as one of my favorites. And he was the first one that I got a chance to vote for because I turned 18 that year. Oh, yeah. That makes sense. There you go. Yeah. Let me say my soapbox. Real quick. And I'm going to take the soapbox back from you real quick. If you haven't tried. Las Segundas. Las Segunda Bakery. Located conveniently at the corner of 15th Street and 15th Avenue in historic keyboard city. They have a collabo that they're doing with Bernstake House right about now for about a week.

6:06Only from the first to the 7th of March. And it's a steak sandwich and it has like caramelized onions and cheese. Also a truffle sauce with with with arugula. Okay. So I'm just saying good luck getting in there to get one because the line's out the door. Better get there at 630 in the morning or have a connection like I do. Okay. And that's not an ad for Las Segunda because. No. But we lost. They are a sponsor. Of course. They give us food during fun drives. And we love them. And we hope that you love them as well. And Tito Rosetta you're out there listening. And I know you are because you are one of our most ardent fans. We'll talk about Tito after the show. But I just want to get Tito a shout out because he's absolutely. All right. Dampenio of note. Joey, I'm going to turn it over to you now. Please introduce our guest. Well, I'm excited because we have someone here today who is well known to a lot of people in the community. And now some more people are going to get to the door.

7:06A deep-rooted Dampenio with with a story to tell. I'm going to find out today. A deep-rooted Dampenio. Oh, yeah. Very nice. Thank you. So we have with us today Mary Francis Leito Grinnell. And I want to say good afternoon Mary. Mary Francis. Thank you for having me. Yeah, absolutely. So there are a lot of people who know you in many different ways. But let's just begin with where were you born? Well, I was born here in Tampa, specifically Ebor City at the Centro Estudiano Hospital. And so, yeah. I'm a native Ebor City person. Wow, Ebor City. She takes the roots right back to the very center. And as siblings? No, I'm an only child. Oh, I should have known. No judgment. Yeah, Joey is too. I am Joey is too. Oh, see? We're good. Yeah, we always have that little special energy because we were special.

8:09That's right, Joey. No. I won't go there. Go ahead, Joey. And so, um, and where did you go to school? Elementary school? Well, I started out at St. Paul here off of 15th Street. It was originally St. Paul, even gelical United Brotherhood School. Wow. And then while I was still, I know, EU, they say EUB for short. That's a lot over this one. And then as I got a little older, the, that organization merged with the Methodist Church. And that's where you got United Methodist. Oh, okay. So St. Paul United Methodist School. My brother attended that school as well. And then high school? Well, then, well, before high school, then I went to Memorial Junior High, over here in Seminole Heights. The Tigers? Okay. The Tigers? Were they Memorial Tigers? No, the Pups. Oh, the Pups. Because Hillsboro across the street were the Terriers. Oh, that's right. So you were the Pups? We were the Pups. Perfect answer. Then we moved, I moved with my parents out way in the country.

9:12We moved to Citrus Park. Wow. And so for high school, I had to attend Chamberlain High School. You had to. Well, because that was my neighborhood school. That was the district, yeah, for sure. Now, let me see if I get this right. I've, I've, you and I happen to be in social media together. And I've seen photos. I'm getting the sense that you were quite the popular girl in high school. Is that correct? Active. Active. Yeah, that's it. Yeah. I was involved in whatever you could be. You know, I was a dance arrow. They called them chief hats. Yes. And was involved in many organizations, you know, student council and, you know, the clubs, different clubs. Well, you can't do all of that and not be popular. I'm sorry, but I had the energy for it too. Well, it was a lot of fun, you know, and it was nice as being participatory. There you go. And so what, what, how did you tell me how you felt about all of that?

10:14I mean, how, what was your, how did you feel about being this only child? I think Mary Frances had a great childhood. I'm just going to jump right. I'm going to flip all the cards over. I think she had a great childhood. I really did. First of all, I was just fortunate and blessed to have the two parents that I had. Right. And yes, I say I was an only child, but they also knew how to make me accountable, to not be that spoiled rotten only child. Oh, okay. So, and I give them a lot of credit for that. And I like to tell people it was so much fun being my father's daughter. You know, I think as both of you know, he was, he was very involved in all kind of civic organizations and just a lot of things. And he, I was his little buddy. He took me to everything as a child. He was involved, not only civically, but politically.

11:15And I think that's what helped to develop my, my political acumen and interest. So, because my dad took me to everything. So, now that you've touched on Sam, your father and I'll say for the record, we both, we all knew Sam. Let's talk a little bit about your lineage and your history, where your families came from in that great story of immigration. Okay. So, all of my grandparents, all four of them, the two on my mother's side and the two on my father's side, all came from Sicily. But four different towns, my grandfather, my later grandfather, Nanno, came from where a lot of the Tampa Sicilians hail from. Santo Stefano, Cuisquina. Yes. And then one of my grandparents came from Alexandria, La La Roca. One came from San Biajo, Blatini. And the other, my grandmother, my father's mother came from, we're not too many Tampa people hail from Sambuca, the Sicilia.

12:22It's a little further out, it's not near where the other three towns are. And so, they all came to Ebor City. Ebor City, yeah. Absolutely. And about the same time, my friends? No, for example, my father's mother and father, they must have, they came in the late, late 1800s. Sure. My mother's mother came in 1910. She was, she was nine years old and I still have her passport, I have her passport. Wow, it's wonderful. Yeah, it's pretty cool. Yeah. And so yeah, she was, she was kind of a later arrival than the rest of us. But everybody born in Sicily, everybody born over there. So, you know, there is, what's interesting about all this is that I have recently, when I say recently in the last year, I've been doing a lot more research into the Italians and Sicilians of Ebor City and discovering some fascinating things. And one is that people don't realize that there were sort of these two moments of entry, which was in the very beginning of Tampa, there were Sicilians here.

13:29Before Mr. Ebor ever came, the first sheriff of Tampa was an Italian whose I wrote his name down, his name was Andrew Pasetti. And he came to 1856, he came to Tampa. Oh, wow. And then the first permanent resident, and that means someone who came here and never left, was Dominico Giro, who was the first permanent resident, he came here in 1849. So in the 1850s, there were Italians in Tampa. But then there's that second wave, we all associate with the great migration through New York or through New Orleans, or what it was. And that's not uncommon that there were about five different towns in Sicily where everybody came from. Right, right, fascinating. So, was that, did that sense of immigration and I don't know what you want to call that, rooted this back to another country? Identity. Identity, was it important? How was that for you growing up? I guess. It was very important. And again, my parents maintained many of the traditions, as I was growing up, the traditions that they had, as they were growing up.

14:40And so, yeah, there was always that pride. I never remember a time when I didn't feel it. Is Sicily spoken in the house? Yeah, might, yes. But your grandparents, I'm thinking, yes. Yes, I mean, yes, it was spoken in the house when they did not want me to understand what they were saying. Because Mary Frances was always in everybody's business. Yes, I was. Now, and my grandparents, even though they could speak English, very broken English, but they, you know, they spoke Sicilian a lot as well. Right, which is different from the Italian that most people associate. Right. It's completely different language. No, it really is. And when I was in college, I actually studied Italian. Oh. And that's when I really learned that, oh, this is really different from, you know, all this time, yeah, my family speaks Italian. Well, no, they don't. They speak Sicilian. There's Portuguese, Portugal, Portuguese, and there's Brazilian Portuguese in there. Right. It's the same root language, but spoken differently.

15:40Well, you know, there's this famous story, and I don't, I think it's going back more than 20 years, in which there were linguists, or maybe they're called lexiconographers. I don't think it was Santos Stefano, but one of the, or maybe it was, I don't know, but one of the towns in Sicily, they were, they were trying to get back to the ancient roots of the language. And it had been so corrupted by television and modern society that they came to Tampa because there were people in Tampa still speaking that language. I heard that as well, Joe. Yeah, I remember I was fascinating. Yeah. So what did you do after high school? What did I what? What did you do after high school? After high school. Did you have any ambitions? Did you have any ambitions? What was Mary France is going to be when she grew up? Yeah. As a senior high school. Come on. Well, from the time I was a small child, I knew I wanted to be a school teacher. Oh, okay. I used to, I had a million dolls and stuffed animals, and I used to line them all up.

16:40Oh, you had a classroom. Yeah. All right. So this is interesting. My, my non-no, my mother's father was the head custodian at Wilson, Jr. high. And when I was little, sometimes in the summertime, he would take me, because I would spend a lot of time with them, he would take me with him sometimes. And I thought, I mean, he might as well have been president. Right. I just felt that that was such an important job, and that he was so important. So he got, yeah, and he got me a desk from Wilson, put it in my room, and got me a chalkboard, and then so that I could play school with my stuffed animals and my dolls. And sometimes I'd bring the neighborhood kids in and try to teach them something. So I, from day one, I never wanted to be anything else. Wow. And what a great grand daddy's house.

17:40No, no, no. It was on top of it. You knew what he was doing. He wanted his little girls little grand daddy. Well, and you know, the interesting thing is too, and he always used to tell me, he always wanted my mother to be a school teacher. She didn't want to do that. When she got out of high school, she went to Tampa Business College, got the two-year business degree, and then went to work with the state of Florida, which became HRS. Only jobs she ever had was there for 40 years. Wow, wow. He is a secretary to the district administrator, so. That's beautiful. But I became the teacher. Yes. So in your room, you have your desk and your chalkboard, and you have all your students who are various. Yeah. Oh, my gosh. United Nations. United Nations. United Nations. Yeah. So very obedient, by the way, never had to send anybody your principles off yet. They're not getting in trouble. So, so by high school, I'm gathering that you are already shooting for that in your mind. Yes. Okay. So you leave high school and go to school.

18:40South Florida? University, South Florida. Of course. There you go. Yeah. And you did, you did an education degree here. Okay. Um, education and, um, with an emphasis on political science and social studies. Hmm. Excellent. Very good. And, uh, and then what happens next? Well, graduated. Hmm. Um, got my first teaching job at Horace Man Jr. High out in Brandon. Okay. I had been an intern. I did my internship there. And then fortunately, when I graduated from college, there was an opening. And I was hired to teach there. So, uh, did that for the first five years of my teaching career. Mind you, it was 30 miles one way. Of course. From my house. Of course. From my home. But for the first five years, I mean, it was a job. It was very hard to get a job back then. Oh, you still miss your park area, Mary Frances? Were you still up in the north part of town? Yeah. Yeah.

19:40I've never left. When we moved there in 1968. Well, your family had property, though. No, I mean, you had some. Yeah. My father had like 30 acres out there. Oh. We had horses and everything. So, yes. And I'm still there. Right. Right. But yeah. So, so after, after college, I got my, my teaching, I got my teaching degree, got my job. And, um, so I taught it man for five years. Mm-hmm. After that, for a period of, then I thought after five years, I went, oh, I don't want to be a teacher anymore. I want to go work in my dad's septic tank business. There you go. So, that's what every girl aspires to. Exactly. A septic tank truck driver is septic tank person. Well, you know, he didn't have any sons or anyone else to pass the business to. And I'm thinking it was a lucrative business. Why don't I learn it? And I will tell you, my father was never so thrilled that I wanted to learn his business. So for three years, I worked with him and I did enjoy it.

20:41And then all of a sudden, they built Geather High School, which was very nearby to our home. 15 minutes from your house. And I, and I always wanted to teach high school. So, I made the decision to leave the septic tank business and get back into education. And I taught at Geather High School for 30 years. Now, by the time you get to Geather, are you still single? No. No, no, no. I got married in 1978. And Jamie and I met on a blind date. Set up by my best friend, Sandy Alfere. So blind dates can work. Well, the funny thing is, is I didn't want to go when she told me about it. And then her friend, who was, who was friends with my husband, Jamie, who wanted to set him up. Jamie didn't want to go either. Because he had, I had met the friend. And the friend described me as an Italian school teacher.

21:45Well, Jamie had this image of this matronly. Maybe. With a little burn on the head. Yeah, yeah. Heart shoes. Yeah, right. Black dress. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And a skull. So fortunately, we all ended up agreeing. So because for Sandra and I, it was like, even if it's not going well, we're there together. There was a friend. Yeah, you're right. And Sandra and you go back to. We were 15 years old. We were in the 10th grade. And our Spanish teacher sponsored a trip to Europe. And Sandra's parents let her go. My parents let me go. And we had a room together. And that was it. It was. It's 1970. 1970. Girls are on the loose in Europe, forget it. Or as they say in the movies, forget a bond. Yeah, yeah. So for the record, I, I know, I know Sandra. And it's really how I know you. And she is in a word an awesome person.

22:47She's the best. She is the best. Absolutely. She's a great, great human being. So I can see how that would work. I get it. She also has the same kind of trajectory. This Sicilian family that came here. Right. You bore city and all that stuff. It's funny. Kind of a funny story. So this teacher that was taking us to Europe when this trip, she had an organizational meeting for the parents. Unless. So we get over there. And my parents see Sandra's parents. And it was like old home week. They knew each, they'd been friends. They knew each other. Oh, wow. They went way back. And so you guys didn't necessarily know that. No, we didn't know that until they saw each other at that meeting. So the bond grew even more. Right. And then the other funny thing is when our parents were both trying to decide if they were going to let us go on this trip or not, I told my parents. I said, well, Sandra's parents are letting her go, which that was not the case at that point. Sandra's told her parents.

23:48Mary Frances' parents are letting her go, which wasn't the case. But it worked. Did you guys pre-plan that? Did you guys talk about that? You scheme that up. That's beautiful. So your husband, Jamie, yeah, go ahead and talk about Jamie. Is I know I've known Jamie in the past. When I first came to E. Bore City, he was very involved. He was, he was involved with the development corporation there. The E. Bore City Development Corporation. Well, mainly with the Italian club. And mainly with the Italian club. Yeah. I think that's why he was attending meetings. Yeah. Past president. Yeah. Yeah. And I say this not to you because you're married, but he's a great guy. Yeah, he is. Yeah, he's a great guy. So I know him. And I also want to say for the record because we've kind of leaped over it that your father, Sam Lato, is was a kind of iconic figure in E. Bore City. And I'm just speaking from my viewpoint, there are many people that have all these great

24:48stories of Sam on his Palomino horse with it. Thunder. Who else would ride their horse into the Columbia restaurant? Into the Columbia restaurant. Yeah. For me, he was a connection back to the Peasos and to that other world of E. Bore City that existed in the 60s and 50s and beyond, you know, all that stuff. And I just enjoyed him a great deal. Please. About my, our family history, supposedly family legend has it that my grandmother, my father's mother, her name was Maria Francesca, who I was named after. She was the first queen of E. Bore City. And apparently they, they paraded her down 7th Avenue in this cart or whatever that was driven by some white horses. That's the family legend. And I'll, but I'll take it. I love it. It sounds wonderful. I'm sure it's probably true because E. Bore City, both the Spanish and all of the ethnicities

25:51that came there were very deep into this kind of festival and ceremonial stuff and they love that stuff. They were always having parades long before the city was creating, you know, parades down there. They were having parades in E. Bore City. I think they brought that custom with them from the old country. Absolutely. Yeah. Festas. Yeah. Festas emery meant and, and bino and bino and more bino. Right. Yeah. Let's do it. So it's right at the bottom of the hour. This is the time when we take a little bit of a break. We reintroduce ourselves. We reintroduce our guest and then we'll give you a telephone number if you'd like to give us a call. Make a comment or just have a question from Mary Frances. I'm Harrison Nash and you're listening to the conversation with Mario Nunez and Joe Kane Carter on WMNF 88.5 FM in Tampa. That's the great Harrison Nash. And if you didn't get a chance to listen to that show in the archives, we encourage everybody to go to the WMNF dot org website and seek out the conversation.

26:53Our archives are there. All of our previous shows. If you're just joining us now, we are talking to Mary Frances late to Grinnell who has quite the history here in Tampa, her family legacy. We're talking a little bit about her father right now, Sam Lato and all that he brought to the party. But Mary Frances, you've established yourself well over the last 40 years plus in Scots in Tampa. And I'll say this right up front and I know because we were together at a meeting last week before last where Marlene Macella Lee was there. And I know when we talked about the photograph, the famous photograph of Marlene with her dad presenting a JFK two days before we lost him and the world changed with a doll, a doll for Caroline, right? So, and I remember you stood tall and you said, you know, that should have been me. That should have been me. And that and that raging controversy will go on forever. And Marlene, of course, she fired back saying, well, my dad was the outgul, my dad was

27:55the mayor. But the reality is when you, your lives were mirror images of each other because she heard that also took her everywhere and taught her what it meant to be a good citizen and had that civic connection to your community. And my father was good friends with Marcella, you guys were blessed both of you to have such wonderful dads. So, there you go. Yeah, absolutely. There I said it, Joey. So, and by the way, Marcella also gave him a box of cigars, which is, if you knew Marcella, he was never without his, is that a good of what this? Yeah. They were about yay long. I mean, you can't see it. But they're the longest cigars. And in record. And JFK was with the cigar often, too, by the way. Yes. And so, all right. So, now you're married and teaching a gator, but somewhere in there, there is something, you have a relationship with dance and what is that? Well, I grew up of taking dance classes down the street at 9, 10, what used to be Buffalo

28:59Avenue and now MLK. Okay. It's just down the street. And so, my mother sent me there when I was five and- And the mothers I want to do, they send their little daughters there. Well, it went on the dancing. The interesting thing about that, you know, as Gregarius and outgoing as my father was, my mother was the total opposite, shy, quiet, just wanted to stay in the background. And but she used to tell me, I don't want you to be, to grow up being shy. I like me. So she put me into dance and she said, you know, and again, I loved it. And I think that's the side of my father that puts in me. Right. Yeah. And, you know, so I loved it. I did it until I was graduated from high school. And then in fact, I even did it into college. And at the time, the studio, Frank Ray Dance Studio, they were the home of the Florida

29:59Ballet Theater. And I was a soloist with the Ballet Company. And so when I graduated from college, I figured, okay, I think it's time that I stop. You know, I've got my career now and- I'm a grown-up. I'm a grown-up, yeah. My husband is in tow. Well, and I wasn't married yet. Oh, okay. When I graduated from college. But I took a trip to New York. That was my graduation present. And I got to see the musical, the original cast- By yourself. No, I went with a group of people. Okay, all right. And I got to see a chorus line, the original, with the original cast. It had only been open for a few months. And when I saw a chorus line, and especially when they sing the iconic, what I did for love, I don't make me tear up now, I went, I can't quit. I can't stop dancing. And so I just continued to take classes until I was 50.

31:03I gave up my point shoes when I was 50 years old. I was going to ask you, Mary Frances, I'm going to believe that you had a podiatrist on speed dial. I had to believe you know, because that's a lot of wear and tear on those feet. Yeah. But once it's in your blood and you love it. Once it's in your blood. And then what had happened to, in 2001, Frank Ray just suddenly died. He had a heart attack, whatever. He had not been sick. He just died instantly. And we were all wondering, you know, what's going to happen with the studio? And as it turns out, his family tried to keep it open for a little while, but then they decided they didn't want to keep it open. So they were going to close it down. And a group of us, our children were now dancing there. And we didn't want to take them anywhere else. So my dear friend, Jinky Barker, who grew up with me at the studio, we just got this idea

32:04that maybe we can pull our resources and maybe we could buy it. So I went to my husband and my mother and my father passed away by then. And what do you think? There was no hesitation. They both said, go for it. So we did. We pulled our resources and we bought it. And then about five years after that, I purchased Jinky's portion of the studio. And so became the sole owner of the great Frank Ray studio. That is the story that I was hoping that you would tell today because that's going to lead us to the story of your daughter's success. And we want to get to that in just a moment. Hey, if you'd like to join the conversation today, you've got a question or a comment. Let me give you that number now. It's 813-2399-663. We saw a couple of callers online, but I don't know what happened. Maybe there was a meteor strike or perhaps a sonic boom, but we lost both of the callers.

33:04So if you're out there and you want to call back, we'd love to talk to you. You can send us a text at 813-430-885 and Jessica is standing by to read your emails. Please submit your emails to DJ at WMNF.org, ask about her daughter, ask about her daughter. Well, before I do that, I just want to know how do you spell Jinky? Yeah. Oh, J-I-N-K-Y. Jinky. Jinky. And how did she get that name? K-E-Y, I'm sorry. Is it she? Yes. How did she get that name? Well, that's a good story too. Her real name is Jean Marie. And when she was a child, small child, her brothers started calling her Jinky and it's stuck. Yes. And that's actually pretty good. There's no other Jinky's probably in the world. She's probably unique. She's a yes. And yeah. Yeah. How many nicknames are derived with an origin story like that one? And because my brother's, my brother has this, my brother's given name is Fernando, but

34:08because he was close to my oldest brother in age, they refer to him as a cheeky thing, a cheeky thing, the little one in Spanish, a cheeky thing. My brother, my big brother, who was 20 months old at the time, couldn't say a cheeky thing. So it came out, a cheeky, a cheeky. So to his classmates in elementary school, he was cheeky, cheeky, until he got to high school, then he was chick. But I mean, that's, isn't that weird? Isn't that weird? He went back to Fernando, to which I told him, I said, that's really odd that you do, because when somebody hears you, your name is Fernando Núñez, you better be able to come up with some Spanish homeboy, because that's a serious Spanish name. Well, you know, I have a similar story. My mother's birth name was Eunice, she was the oldest of nine. Her next brother down was two years apart. When he started talking, he couldn't say Eunice. So his favorite thing in the world was honey. He started calling her honey, and my mother was honey to the world. That was her name. I didn't know any different. I think we could do a whole show on nicknames, up all those as they're known in Spanish nicknames,

35:12but back to the story of Mary and Francis. Yes. So dancing and your daughter. Let's go back. Yes. So, I have three children. I have two boys, Jamie Jr. and Sam Anthony. Jamie's a musician. Sam Anthony is a firefighter with the City of Tampa, and the tradition continues. And then there's Francesca. And she put her into dance classes, obviously, when she was little, not knowing if she was going to like it or not, and low and behold, she loved it. And so she danced at the studio until she graduated from high school. She then went on to college to Florida State and was involved. She didn't major in dance. She's smart, young, like, she's very academic. And she figured she didn't need a degree in dance to be a dancer. So she got a degree in literature, English literature, and graduated from FSU.

36:16And then my husband and I went to her graduation, obviously, in Tallahassee. And after the graduation, she left for New York and we went back home to Tampa, sad. Just sad, you know, because we didn't get to see her that much. But she took off, that had been her goal since she was 11 years old. That's another, she always knew, driven like her mama. She always knew. And when she, I would never forget, when she was 11 years old and we had brought in a famous choreographer from New York to teach some classes at the studio. And we were driving him then to the airport for him to go back. And he gave her this advice, now she's 11 years old. And he said, save up as much money as you can between now and the time that you're ready to move. So that when you move to New York, you have enough money to pay your rent and that you don't have to work for six months so that you can go and audition.

37:20How are you going to audition if you have to be at work? Great advice. So she took that advice, we opened up an account for her. And by the time she moved to New York, I won't tell you how much she had. She had enough to survive her first year in New York City without having to work. Significant. So is it foolish of us to ask because we've got a couple of callers we're going to get through here? Is it foolish of us to ask you to tell us because you've got to be a proud mama? I mean, your daughter has been dancing in New York for a minute now. Tell us some of the big production numbers that she's been in. Tell us some of the big shows. Well, she started out, she toured first before she made her debut on Broadway. She toured with the national companies of Hamilton, Finding Neverland, Katz. And then... That's her resume. Yeah. She made her Broadway debut though with Finding Neverland. Great movie, great story. Yeah. And what a thrill it was for her father and I and her brothers.

38:22We all went out and their families. We all went up to see her. My mother, my mother was still alive at the time and she went and I had a dry eye in the house. No, I know. Oh, and her father cried like a baby, like a baby. You just outed Jamie on radio, seven counties wide, Jamie, sorry. I would have to. I would have to. Of course. It was. But at all. But at all. And then she, like I said, she went on and then she toured, oh, American idiot. But for her, that was kind of a turning point. For that, I think that was her favorite show was American Idiot. I was not that familiar with Green Day's music and then American Idiot is, of course, Green Day's music. But when we went to see the show, I became a fan and Billy Joe Armstrong. Yeah, absolutely. Very cool. So we've got one call. We want to acknowledge real quick. And when we come back on the backside of that, we're going to continue our conversation

39:23if you've got a question or a comment, this is your time as we're getting close to the end of the show. It was close so fast. Joey, you noticed that? I know. We just get settled in our seats. And the next thing we know, we're look up. It's 15 minutes. We're having fun. Eight, one, three, two, three, nine, nine, six, six, three. And a college has dropped off. I think we're having some problems with our phone system today. Okay. Well, back to you, Joey, back to Mary Frances. I've got a couple of questions, but you go first. Well, no, go ahead. Okay. So you're going up. You're in Citrus Park. But I got to believe that you're still spending a lot of time in e-bore city. What are the earliest earliest memories that you have of e-bore city? And what are the most, like I remember being 11 years old and going on a field trip from elementary school and riding like a rosa around e-bore city and doing the tour thing, or going to the bakery. Let's say, one that we talked about, or going to the cigar factories. What are some of your earliest memories of e-bore city? I, gosh, I don't know if I can even remember my early, it's just, I don't remember a time. What was the feeling you had when you got back to e-bore city? There was a never a time that we were not there.

40:26That we were not there. I got you. There was never a void or a period where we didn't, that it wasn't part of our lives. Primarily because of the Italian club and there was, and there was a period too of time when the Italian club had fallen into, into disrepair and, you know, so there was a time that we weren't active with it, but, you know, the Columbia restaurant and with my father being involved in civic organizations, they were all rooted in e-bore city. That's true. So, and the night parade and the, you know, and wasn't Sam on, wasn't he on the round, the e-bore round table? Yes, yes, yes. In fact, he started, and I think, I think you're right. You all can correct me if I'm wrong. Yeah, no, I think you're right. He and Guy St. Paul, and if you remember Guy St. Paul, he was like my dad's best friend, and they got in a lot of trouble together. Before the city established a firm kind of agency in e-bore city, there was a chamber of

41:27commerce was, the chamber of commerce was not as strong as it is now. What was strong were these, these independent civic organizations like the round table and the alcohol day and all that. That was the stuff that was generating, and Sam was a big part of all that. Yes, he was. And I forgot about that. I was actually a member of the e-bore city chamber. I was on the board, back in around 1984, when the Super Bowl came here, and we were responsible for bringing Susan Anton to come to be in the festival that we had at that time for Superbowl. And I got to ride around with her and take her around here and there. Been kind of fun. I think it's been kind of fun being Mary Frances Leito. I think Mary Frances Leito had a really good time and continues to do so, but she's also a hard worker, Joey. She got those lessons from her pop on being responsible and giving back and being a leader

42:30in the community. What are you doing these days, Mary Frances? What inspires you today? We'll get you out of the house today. Well, kind of was a negative, but it's really turned into a positive. But the day after the last election, when I for one and I know a lot of my friends were the same way, I was like paralyzed. I literally laid on the couch all day long. I didn't get up. After that day, a group of us got together and we went to our Casa Camila to take down all of the stuff that we had put up and take our stuff, you know, things that belonged to us. We had to clean the space up because it was a rented space. So we did that and by the time we finished, it was around lunchtime.

43:31The group of us said, well, you know, let's go have lunch. So we went to have lunch and we started talking and we were like feeling even though we took everything down and we don't have a Casa anymore. This group of women who had become so close and most of us really didn't know each other very well. It's not like we were BFFs. And we said, but we can't, we have to continue. And so we did and we formed a group called the Casa Tampania and we meet regularly monthly and we've become involved in different campaigns and so, yeah, we've become very productive actually. And in local government and throwing our support like yesterday, for example, we, a group of us got together at my house and we wrote postcards. Am I allowed to say the candidate for Brian Nathan? And we did the same thing some weeks back for Luis Antonio Salazar.

44:35So we're doing those types of things in support of candidates. We're on the ground trying to make a change and trying. And you guys are fierce. We are. I know this thing about you guys that you, you're a force of nature. When you say you're going to do something, you do something and you've got plenty of leaders in your group. I mean, this is not a situation where there's too many chiefs and not enough Indians. They're all because everybody's an Indian, but they got a chief inside of them. You follow what I'm saying. So everybody knows what their role is. I've seen them in action and it's super impressive. And I know it's rewarding too because you know, if we're not doing something in some ways, Joey and I feel like coming in here on Wednesdays, even though we don't go and do the deep dive into politics because other people will do that. But we still feel like we're driving conversations in the community. And by introducing people like yourself, Mary Frances. And the people that we've had on the show previously, it's hoping and helping to bring people together. That's what we want to do here. Yes. Yeah. And I think that, you know, this is, there's a higher level of this conversation, which

45:40is that out there in the world, if you're listening, by doing something that's it, you overcome anxiety. That's the key. Exactly. You said that you felt, and I think probably a lot of people listening related to that, there was a kind of initial paralysis because you couldn't believe that this could possibly happen in America. And yet it's happened and it continues happening. And at the grassroots level, obviously voting is something you can do. But anything you can do ultimately helps you as a person. That's what, that's what people who dedicate this to community service, I think, discovers. And by the way, there's a historic, there's a very historic reference for all of this, because we've had this Dr. Sarah McNamara on our show. Yes, we have. And she has written her book about Mattine in this out. And one of the greatest marches against fascism ever was the 1937. Right here.

46:40Latina's March. Women. Right here. Right here. By the way, think about. How inspiring is that? Think about 5,000 women on 7th Avenue marching back. I have an idea. I'm going to introduce to Mary Francis because she knows a thing or two about choreography. She knows a thing or two about wardrobe. I think you guys need to adopt as you're, as you're alter ego in your image. The style and the fashion that they wore in 1937, discerts, the hats, that should be your moniker as an homage to those great women. I'm just saying. No, that's a good idea. And if you use it, you can pay royalties later. So, so don't pick up a collection later. So, you know, I think the story, the subtext there is, don't cross the Latina, folks. You know, these are people now that are riled up and ready. And that's great. What was it that the famous quote in just flew out of my head? The immigrants. Yes. They get the job done.

47:40They get the job done. They get the job done. Mary Francis. Lin-Manuel Miranda said it. There you go. Yeah, there you go. And a very poignant part. In Hamilton. In Hamilton. In a very poignant part. And they stopped and they look at the audience and they go immigrants. I think he was shaking hands with Thomas Jefferson at the time, or maybe it was Lafitte. We get the job done. Okay. So there you go. And, you know, and in relationship to your family history, Mary Francis, when I conduct history tours in Eibor City, I try not to moralize because that's not what people come therefore. They come for history. And so, but the point is, I'm always starting my history tours by saying one of the greatest stories of immigration in America is the story of Tampa and Eibor City. And it is. It is. It's absolutely stunning. It grounds us. It grounds us. In a time. In a time when immigration is now being vilified. I'm glad you brought that up because I didn't think about it, but the immigrant statue

48:42that is in Centennial Park. That's right. That was my father's inception. That was his idea. I knew that. Yes. And the little boy in the statue is in the likeness of my second, my middle son, Sam Anthony. That's great. Listen, and if you didn't know you now, you're learning so much. We've got about five minutes left in show and I know it's, is it Layla Layla has been calling from from Polk County and I don't know what's happening with our phone system today. But are you there? I am. I just want to know is Lato High School, the tiny country was named after Mayor Francis his family out of Eibor City. There you go. I graduated from the United States. Lato High School. Was it named after your family? It wasn't Lato. I know. Okay. Let me come clean. There you go. No, there's no relation. My parents were good friends with Mr. Lato and his wife. But I like to tell, especially when the school was being built and, you know, I was much younger. I used to tell, but oh, yeah, it was, it was, it was my family.

49:44It was after us. Yeah. But it, no, no real. There was no. Mayor Francis took credit, but I used to take credit, yeah. Yeah. Layla, thank you for being persistent with your calls when we know you were there and we dropped your couple of times. But thank you so much. I just know that first, but you're like, oh, just go ahead, Mayor Francis, keep talking. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much for listening. That's wonderful. You know, it's easy to come. I think he was a principal at Jefferson High School. Yes. Okay. Well, he was, he was principal at Chamberland. What was his first name? A tale. A tale. And he was principal at Chamberland High School. Yes. Very beloved. And this is another thing that can happen. And he bore city or in Tampa is that two people can be named Garcia and not be related to each other at all. Of course. Or there could be like in New York, of course. There could be the Remore family and then once the E-Board City branch and once the West Tampa branch and never the Twain Shell meet. And we say this lovingly for those of us thumbnails of a certain age in Mary Francis. I know you can relate to this. I say this on the Tampa native show from time to time. You know, when we grew up in Tampa, either you knew somebody's cousin, you worse somebody's

50:44cousin, or you had to be careful who you were kissing on because they might be your cousin. Well, okay. If a family had five daughters and all the names changed because when you get married, your names changed. There you go. Here comes the story. Go ahead, Mary Francis. So here we go. Jamie and I, you know, I mentioned that we met on a blind date and then we started going out, you know, dating each other after that. The first time he brought me home to his parent, to meet his parents, or I don't know, it may have been when he brought, when I brought him home, or when he came to meet my, I don't know. I think it was with my parents. As soon as I introduced him to my father, that was it. His grandmother and my great-grandmother were first cousins. So Jamie and I are like fifth or sixth cousins, which, you know, doesn't really count anymore, but we're on the same tree. And our children are on both family, you know, we're, he and I are on the same family tree. Yeah. So. So be careful when it happens a lot.

51:44Be careful when you spin into that tube and you send it over to genealogy.com, man, because you made me an accord with the information. We only have a few minutes left. One minute left. Yes. Maybe is there something that you would like to show you very quickly that we haven't hit on? Is there anything you want to talk about? A shout out or not just, just these words of wisdom, organized voices, words of wisdom where you want to say about that or, um, no, they're, again, like, like, like, module imply that, I mean, we are a force to be reckoned with and are doing our best to make a change. Yes. But I think just for me, personally, I can, and we've tried to pass down to our children, the pride, the sense of responsibility, sure, the sense of responsibility, but the pride in, in, in our immigrant roots, yes, I don't want my children to ever forget that. In fact, we're planning, I hope it could come to pass in the next year or two when my

52:44two granddaughters are a little bit older, my husband and I would like to take them and my children to Sicily so that the grandchildren can see where we came from. That's the best way I think that we can perpetuate, yes, in them. And we're their great. That's a lovely. We're their great parent. Great grandparents were from. Yes. Beautiful. A lovely idea. What a wonderful show this has been, man. The hour just flies by. Absolutely. And again, thank you for those that called in and were persistent enough to stay with the call. We'll figure out what's going on with our phone lines for sure. Joey. Huh? Yes. Yes. Absolutely. Did you have fun, Mary Frances? I did. This was lovely. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you for sharing your stories. So I want to say, as always, special thanks to Jessica, our OG of the board ops. Is she there? Is she there? Can she open her mic and say a little? She's awesome. So people will know she's there. Absolutely. She says. And for our phone call taker, Gabriel, Gabriel is there with her awesome hair doing all

53:44that she could today. And I believe next door, we're going to have Sam, bam, bam, wham, oh man, thank you, Sam. You're just making a ball. Kind of new name. She's going to be there playing the music for you today on it's the music Wednesday. Now, you know, we got another minute to go, Joey. So I can just say this in closing 30 seconds or so in closing, I really thoroughly enjoyed doing this each and every week, buddy. And I hope that you do as well. Absolutely. And we've got some great guests coming up. So everybody should be leaning in on Wednesdays about noon. That's right, folks. That's our favorite beverage. If it's a cafe, go and let you so be it. It's our favorite here. Have a little cafe with us. That's right. Hey, I like that. Have a little cafe with us. Merry Francis. Thank you again. Thank you. So for everybody out there in Radio Land, thank you for joining us today. We'll see you again on the radio as they say each and every week. You're listening to WMNF Tampa.