July 24th, 2023

Hello friends,

   Ideas and dreams are one and the same, they are just on different levels of consciousness. Some days I awaken from a dream which becomes an idea that I obsess over until it becomes a reality. The one person in my life who helps make my dreams become a reality is Julie Ellen Schnepf. And so it was with our Erie Canal cruise events. One day I simply woke up and said we should have a bluegrass cruise, and Julie said, "What in the world is that?". I just had the idea/dream that we should rent out the Colonial Belle, a large tour boat that traverses the old Erie Canal ports between Pittsford and Fairport, NY. I don’t know why it just seemed to be a great idea/dream. I had attended a little performance by a jug band on a smaller boat, the “Sam Patch" the year before. Perhaps that was the seed for the idea, but from this dream evolved a series of yearly events…not only a bluegrass cruise, but also a ukulele cruise….up and down the canal.  Musicians would be playing all together, singing as they toured the old Canal. Well, as life would have it, we held these events for several years until Covid put an absolute halt to everything. We held credit for a trip that had been canceled, but we never thought we’d get the money back. The boat ran aground and it didn’t look like it was ever going to start again. Then, out of the blue, the owners of the boat offered Julie a credit for her trip that she had purchased a few years ago. I recalled all the fun that these events provided and she remembered all the work that was hers…alone! So she did a brilliant thing. She donated the cruise refund to Flower City Ukulele since they were clamoring for a new event. It was a perfect match and a perfect evening. Thursday night the big boat was packed with ukulele players belting out, tunes up and down the canal. I’m sure this won’t be the last time.

   Upon arrivng at the boat launch I had more than several people look at me and announce, "Hey John Bernunzio, everyone knows everything about you… because we read John’s Corner". That of course is where I tell my dreams. It took me aback because it was sort of like standing naked, but that’s what happens when you tell your dreams. John’s Corner has been like that for me, telling my dreams and standing naked in front of an audience….well, I guess "even the president of the United States must sometimes have to stand naked"….says Robert Zimmerman. 

   On Saturday, Julie accompanied me at a beautiful celebration of life for a dear friend of mine from my college days and beyond. Kathryn Conte was an Our Lady of Mercy High School graduate. That was the all girls school that paired with my McQuaid Jesuit…but I did not meet her until senior year in college. We spent one spring evening using cafeteria trays to slide down a very steep and wet hill on the campus. I was immediately smitten with her beauty, innocence and kindness. Our lives wove in and out over the next few years. We were both products of large Italian families from the city of Rochester, and we had so many things in common. In fact, her uncle had been married my grandmother’s cousin, Rose!
   We only went on one date. I had finally summoned up the courage to ask her out to a movie.  However, my father needed my help, immediately. Someone had to deliver a truckload of bread to Wegman’s, his biggest customer. So "Conte", as we always called her, accompanied me on the delivery. We laughed and we talked all evening and we looked at each other and realized we were more like brother and sister, than we could ever be as lovers. We went our separate ways, but stayed in touch, and she eventually became godmother to my son, Jay. In that way, I permanently marked her as a member of my family. I was honored to be invited to the celebration of her life so beautifully assembled by her siblings. I was happy to be able to tell a few stories of my memories of her wonderful and artistic life, to chat with mutual, "old" friends and to once again see her beautiful children and meet her grandchildren. Farewell my friend, farewell…

With love,

John Bernunzio

Low bridge! Everybody down!

Our ever popular, Old Time jam led by Dan Palmer on the 4th Saturdays. They were belting out some great music

A celebration of life with Maria Gillard, Gary Manuel, Robert Shea, Kate Weiskopf and many others…. I was so honored to be included.