Lois Luglio
Lois Luglio lives in her duplex home on West Lisbon Avenue, the same house that was home to her children, to her parents and to her grandparents. The walls and surfaces of the dining room are covered with family photographs. It is a house full of one family's memories and milestones.
Lois's grandfather, Joseph Brah, moved to the Washington Park area and built the house in 1915. For many years, he lived on the first floor and operated his plumbing business out of the basement while her parents lived in the second story unit. As a young adult, Lois moved to Peru and married. She lived in Peru with her husband and children for ten years, returning to Milwaukee with them to take care of her ailing parents in the 1960s. She has been living in the family home ever since. Her home looks directly out onto Washington Park, and family photographs reveal that the park was central in their lives. In addition to the multiple photographs taken in the park itself, the many snapshots taken of family members on the second floor porch that looks out over the park illustrate that for the Brahs and the Luglios, Washington Park was an extension of their home. Lois's stories reflect how indelibly the park's evolution over time is tied to her memories. She remembers stories from her grandparents about the days before there was a zoo, when Washington Park was an airfield. In her lifetime, she shares memories of playing in the park during all seasons, and recalls when the lagoon was expanded. She dates when she moved back to the neighborhood after her time in Peru as "the same year the zoo left the park". Lois has witnessed drastic change in her house, the park, and the neighborhood over her lifetime, but the duplex her grandfather built still exists and remains her home. Lois and Juan Luglio, interview by Juliana Glassco, Tessa Begay, and Matthew Honer, June 2014. |
Excerpts from Lois Luglio oral history
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