PORTLAND, Maine — For years, we’ve been checking in on the Donatelli family in Portland; led by patriarch Evangelista – or "Vangie" – a gifted tailor in the Munjoy Hill neighborhood.
An Italian immigrant, he went to work the day after he arrived in the country; never stopping for 50 years.
Vangie passed away in May of 2022. But his shop is still full of life, now run by eldest son Faustino.
"There’s not many tailors out there, and I just come in and do my job," Faustino explained during an interview Thursday, while stitching a white wedding dress.
The laundromat next door - which shares a wall with the tailor - is run by younger brother Peter.
Along with sister Luana, like their father, work is what they know. The day Vangie died last May, after a long illness, there were still clothes to mend and alter.
"I was back the next day," Faustino said plainly. Why?
"Because I have so much work to do," he gestured to the clothing and machines that clutter the rear of the small shop.
They even worked Thursday; a special day for the family. They hung signs in windows that read, "Open until 4pm," leaving just minutes between close-of-business and a ceremony in their family's honor.
Because the city hadn't forgotten the Donatelli's presence in the neighborhood either.
Led by City Councilor Pious Ali, city workers erected a sign outside the businesses, forever naming that section of busy Congress Street as Donatelli Square. Friends and family members cheered while police officers - many of whom had their formal uniforms altered by Vangie, closed the intersection during the short celebration.
"I think it’s absolutely an honor," Faustino said.
"I need to, sort of, honor the sign," Peter said, describing how he wears casual clothes and sits on a bench to drink his coffee each morning, underneath where the sign now resides.
"This is an incredible honor," Luana said. "We’re so proud of both of our parents, they were so brave to come here, to a country where they didn’t speak the language."
It was a Thursday in June, but the Donatelli's partied like the Fourth of July - celebrating an American dream come true.