Dominick J. Lepore Papers

Dominick J. Lepore was born on July 1, 1911, in Enfield, Connecticut, to John and Anna (Porcello) Lepore. In 1929 he graduated from Enfield High School and entered College of the Holy Cross where he received his Bachelors degree in 1933. Mr. Lepore move to Washington, D.C., in 1935 and began working for the government in the Works Progress Administration and the General Accounting Office until 1945. During this time he also attended Georgetown University from 1937 until 1939.

On January 15, 1949 he married Agatha Maggio, with whom he had one child, Anna F. Kasabian. The family settled once more in Enfield, Connecticut, where Mr. Lepore remained for the duration of his life. During the 1950s he worked in Hartford, Connecticut, as a Revenue Agent for the Internal Revenue Service unitl 1955. Mr. Lepore then took a job teaching English at Kosciuszko Junior High School in Enfield, Connecticut. In 1959 he received his Masters Degree from the University of Connecticut and attended the University of Hartford to upgrade his teaching certificate from 1964 through 1966.

Mr. Lepore was a very active member of the teaching community and was a member of the National Council of Teachers of English, National Education Association, Modern Language Association of America, New England Association of Teachers of English, and the Conncecticut Council of Teachers of English. He was elected chairman of his department in 1966 and often wrote on the subject of teaching. His articles appeared in 1963 Connecticut Teacher , 1965 Language Arts News, as well as many other magazines and newspapers. Mr. Lepore retired from teaching in 1975.

In 1948 Mr. Lepore's poem, "Jealousy", was first published in Different Magazine and in 1955 his first volume of poems entitled The Praise and the Praised was published. A second volume of his poems, Within His Walls, was published in 1968 and in 1971 the poem for which the book is titled was featured in Quaderni di Poesia, a collection of Italian Poetry. By the 1980s, Mr. Lepore's poetry was included in several books and periodicals both here and in Italy. A devout Roman Catholic, many of his poems were of a religious nature and published in religious publications. He was awarded 2nd prize in the 13th International Contest of Religious Poetry in 1981. Mr. Lepore was very highly regarded internationally for his work: he was invited to attend the Poets Festival of the Republic of China, in 1986, was awarded an honorary degree of letters from the l'Universite Libre of Karachi, Pakistan, and was a member of the Poetry Society of America.

Mr. Lepore had a close relationship with his daughter, Anna Kasabian, and kept many of their letters as well as materials related to her professional work. He also kept a great deal of his personal correspondence especially those to/from Mrs. Patricia A. Kirby of Atlanta, Georgia. Included in the collection are many of their letters, as well as her poetry and photographs.

In 1987, after 38 years of marriage, Mrs. Agatha Lepore died. Mr. Lepore died on August 13, 1992, in Boston, Massachusetts, of cancer at the age of 81. During his lifetime he was an active member of the community, involved in many groups including the National Board of Italian Executives of America, featured on talk radio and, in 1986, was featured by Northeast Magazine in their "Who's Who" in the state of Connecticut.