19 Home Sweet Home

Sometimes you don’t realize how much you love someone until you are away from them for about five months.  That is how I felt about my family while I was away for this first semester of college.  While college is going great and I’m making new friends and memories everyday, I keep finding the desire to have my family there to share in the good times.  All of this built up desire is what made December 12, 2008 such a great day.

Stepping off that train and onto the platform was quite the relief.  I had wanted to get back to Albany for weeks now with finals and term papers running through my head.  Getting back to Mordella road with Joe and Jan, Mom and Dad, meatballs and even Brendan waiting for me seemed to erase all the long stressful nights in the library.  I forgot about the final I had taken just twenty-four hours earlier and my only concern became hugs. 

That’s how our family works; no matter if you’ve been gone for five months or five hours you can count on a hug from somebody when you return.  Whether you are being congratulated on your new son or daughter or whether you are mourning the loss of a family member; you will get a hug.  As I walked through the kitchen at Joe and Jan’s I could smell forty eight years of cooking, feel the warmth of each family member’s love and even sit down and taste another one of Papa Joe’s meatballs.  I love this family with everything inside me and I’m blessed to have them in my life.  Now if you would excuse me, I have some hugs to attend to.

15 The Affects of Vatican II

Joe and Jan wanted to provide a religious aspect to their children’s lives but putting them through Catholic school, always attending Sunday Mass, and being involved at Blessed Sacrament Church in Albany, New York. Being a family that always practiced religious sacraments and Masses, it can easily be understood why the Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, or Vatican II was such a big change for the Basiles. Vatican II was an event lead by the Pope that called for change in the church. Some examples of these changes included the priest saying the Mass in the native language of the people attending and the entire alter is now faced towards the pews. These changes were made in the celebration of Mass to allow the people attending to become more involved and better understand what is being done on the altar.

Having such a change occur in a religious community can produce varying responses amongst practicing believers. Some people who opposed Vatican II believed that making such changes pulled the Church away from its historic and ancient ideals. As for the people who supported the change, they felt that it was necessary in allowing the practicing believers to become more involved in the Mass. It is more popular to see the younger generation, like Joe and Jan’s children for example, become more accepting of this change because they were barely exposed to the traditional form of Mass therefore never creating a sense of connection.

13 Big Dom's Sub Shop

In 1972, Joe bought thirty-five percent of his brother Dom’s sub shop that came to be known as “Big Dom’s”. At that time it was located on Ontario St. in Albany, New York. After Joe became a part owner, he mastered the expansion of the business into five more locations before 1980, starting on Central Ave. in Albany (1972), then Latham (1975), Troy (1976), Western Ave. in Albany (1977) and finally one in Rotterdam (1978). These sub shops became a part of the Albany culinary culture and each family member had to do their share to help the family business. Every one of Joe and Jan’s kids and even some of their friends had a part time job at one of the “Big Dom’s” at one point or another.
Joe says that he could use all the help he could get. Owning six shops across Albany County is very difficult with only an average of one hundred and thirty full time employees and about another hundred part time employees. Joe recalls the most challenging part of the business was maintaining control of each location with such a slim amount of employees. Although there was a chaotic and tough time while during the company’s expansion period, Joe knows that it was well work it. Due to him and Jan’s hard work, they could afford to send all of their kids to private high schools and colleges. This was very rare in that era and Joe knows he was a little more fortunate than the average American family at that time.

03 The Basile Homestead

After Joseph and Janet Basile returned from their honeymoon in 1953, they lived with Joe’s parents for a few months at the corner of North Main Ave. and Kent St. Once they financially got on their feet, they moved into 55 North Manning Blvd, Albany, and officially became home owners. In 1959, Joe and Jan moved to a trailer park owned by Joe’s parents. There, Joe worked in trailer sales under his parents.


The most recent and permanent move that Joe and Jan made was from the trailer park to 67 Mordella Rd, Albany. While using the trailer park as a temporary residence they bought a lot on Mordella and began building a home. Within a year of building, the Basile family was ready to move into their new home. On the day of the move-in, August 16, 1960, Jan unexpectedly went into labor for her fourth child Donna.


Mordella was an attractive neighborhood for the Basiles because it provided much needed space to a growing family of six. It was also a suburban area which Joe and Jan felt was the necessary environment in which to raise children. Many of the Basile’s friends were making a similar move to nicer neighborhoods at this time. This improved lifestyle did cost them enough to tighten their financial boundaries. With the house costing $24,500, appliances included, and a mortgage of $150 a month Joe and Jan had to struggle to maintain a financial balance.

02 The Basile Wedding

Joseph Basile proposed to Janet Smith on June 23rd, 1952. On this day, Jan had graduated from Vincentian Institute and had celebrated her Eighteenth birthday. Jan’s remarkable maturity is a good example of how it was more popular to marry at a young age. Having such a commitment at an time of immaturity may and have caused marriages to fall apart. In today’s society it is more common to marry around the age of twenty eight. This allows people to steadily mature and develop before choosing a mate. Whereas Jan becomes an adult, fiancé and high school graduate in one day.

The couple took each other’s hand in marriage at Blessed Sacrament Church, of Albany, in 1953. The Basile’s still attend Blessed Sacrament Church and Joe was in the church choir until recently. Joe’s best man was Ed Rogers; a schoolmate of his and a dear friend at that time in his life. Jan’s maid of honor was Edna Smith; her sister in law and still close friend till this day. The newlyweds took their honeymoon in Miami and Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

01 Joe and Jan Before the Wedding

Joseph Nigro Basile and Janet Mary Smith had a long history together before that fateful day when Jan walked down the aisle. Jan’s mother Norah had been working as a maid for the Basile’s before either of the two was born. So naturally, Joe and Jan formed a relationship at a very young age through their parents. Their relationship began to grow as Jan would help her mother at the Basile’s home at North Main St. and Kent St. in Albany, New York.

Not coming from as much money and with her husband’s early passing, Norah needed to be the bread winner for the Smith family. Keeping house for the Basile's was a good way for her to make a living and provide for her children. Jan would help her mother work at the Basile's at a young age to make it easier on her mother. Her presence at the Basile's home naturally strengthened her relationship with each family member, Joe included. Despite his obvious lack of intimate feeling for Jan during his adolescents, they would have their first date when he returned from the Pacific.

Joe and Jan’s first date was at a dinner theater on Central Ave., in Albany. Dinner theaters were a popular social location where a couple could have dinner and then be entertained by a play, comedian or other stage shows. At the time, Jan was seventeen and attending Vincentian Institute and Joe was twenty-five and had recently returned home from World War II. Joe had previously left Christian Brothers Academy, in Albany, to join the armed forces at the age of seventeen. Joe was a sailor in the Navy and had served for three years in the Pacific.