The name, Digatono, was well known around North Minneapolis from the 1920s to the ‘50s, partly because of Joe Digatono’s Shoe Shop on 42nd and Thomas Ave. N. You couldn’t miss it because it was at the end of the streetcar line and when you got off the streetcar, you could smell the scent of fine crafted leather wafting in the breeze. Everyone who lived around there went to get their shoes fixed, whether it was for a quick shine or to get their soles saved—(not the church kind!).
But the reason the name Digatono was so familiar to me is that Le Roy Digatono was a classmate of mine at Henry High. I don’t know how he did scholastically, but socially he was tops. Always a smile on his face, always telling jokes, an excellent dancer and yes, he was a bit of a flirt--well, that’s Italian for you!
Le Roy was one of four brothers, three of whom served in the U.S. Armed Services in WWII. This seemed fairly unusual that three brothers would be in the war at the same time. Le Roy served in the army as an aircraft mechanic with the 15th Air Force in Africa and Italy. His older brother, Joe Jr. graduated from North High in 1939. He was an artillery man in the 34th Division in Africa and Italy. He was on the front line for 550 days. When the war was over, he worked in the shoe shop and eventually took it over. He had a family of six children.
The third brother who was in the service was Marlon (Mar) who graduated from Patrick Henry in 1941. He, unlike the other two brothers, was in the navy. His position was that of an aircraft mechanic in the South Pacific. He had a family of four children.
In correspondence with Le Roy’s oldest daughter, Patricia Digatono Eaton three years ago, she mentioned her dad preferred to be called “Dick.” She related that he never worked in his dad’s shoe shop, at least not that she knew of. If he did, it was just to help out now and then. As a teenager he worked at a gas station and one summer he hitch-hiked to Wisconsin to work on a relative’s farm. He had no money in his pocket. He did teach himself to yodel while on the farm and used to wake the kids up in the morning with a yodel.
His class at Patrick Henry was fall of ‘43. This was WWII days, and some of the kids in his class were getting married. Patricia related that her dad was 19 and mom, Pat, was 17 when they got married. She said when she was born her dad was in the army in Italy and didn’t come home for two years. I guess that was common in those days. Later, there were five more children born to Le Roy and Pat Murphy Digatono. The family home was in Brooklyn Center by Twin Lake, so they spent a lot of time at the beach. Le Roy’s occupation was that of an insurance man and after that he sold real estate. He also managed the Knights of Columbus Hall in Crystal. Nowadays they live in Osseo.
Talking about herself from a letter in 2009, Patricia said she retired from teaching in 1996, after 30 years, but still volunteers at her old school and does some tutoring. “The school I was at was called Pilgrim Lane, located in Plymouth, belonging to the Robbinsdale school system. Pilgrim Lane closed, but thanks to Facebook I am able to stay in touch with former students.”
About her brothers and sisters she says, her brother Rick sells real estate, sister Marie went back to college to learn to be a landscape planner, Mick lives in the north woods and does carpentry and other jobs, Dan lives in South Dakota and is a therapist\counselor and Denise is a stay-at-home mom with two daughters. Patricia says, “Denise was born when I was 16, so she seems like my daughter rather than my sister. I adore her daughters! They live 1\2 mile from me and we are very close. Four of us siblings live close enough to my parents to be there in 5 to 10 minutes if necessary.” So that’s the story of Le Roy (Dick) Digatono’s family.
