Item T0194:0001-0002 - Pasquale Capozzi interview

The item is an audio interview with Pasquale Capozzi, recorded in 1964.
T0194:0001 track 1: This interview is the story of how an immigrant went from a railway labourer to being a multi-millionaire. Mr. Pasquale 'Cap' Capozzi was born in Italy on July 13 1889. He discusses his family background; how he attended school in Italy and traveled to New York, and from there to Nelson when he was 18 or 19. He worked as a railway labourer for the CPR. He discusses various jobs he held in the BC interior before he eventually settled in Kelowna, where he established the town's second grocery store.

Track 2: Mr. Capozzi describes the conditions in Kelowna around 1920. He married his wife in 1921. He describes the town of Phoenix and the copper mining boom there. He explains the reasons for the success of his store in Kelowna. After a fire burned down his first store he built another one. He discusses how he got involved in the wine business and how he was greatly assisted in this venture by W.A.C. Bennett. He offers his impressions of Mr. Bennett and various aspects of his own business career.

T0194:0002 track 1: Mr. Capozzi discusses a service station which he bought in the Kelowna area, the hotel/motel business, his philosophy on business, what Canada means to him, how he learned to speak English in Nelson, how being an immigrant was never hard for him, how he loves Kelowna, some famous people whom he has met, his sons and how they decided the grocery business was not for them, his future plans and more on his life's philosophy.