Some unique men and women came through both my Dad’s and Mom’s side of our family lineage.
Domenico Ripamonti, Dad’s grandfather, was the owner of the King’s Royal Publishing Company of Italy. He lived during the turn of the century, when Italy still had a king.
On my mother’s side there were several Puritan preachers and the man who was behind the translation of the first Bible into English five hundred years ago. John Rogers died burned at the stake for being critical of the Roman Catholic doctrines and practices of his time. His entire family with ten children were made to watch the execution.
Today all of the relatives that I ever met are very dear to me – no exceptions.
But there was actually another Ripamonti living in Rome at the same time as we were but my family never knew it. Uncle Luciano was good friends with this fellow when after WWII they had both joined the motorcycle police academy in Rome. My uncle ended up dropping out and never finished the course. The other Ripamonti became the head of the motorcycle police force for all of Rome.
In 1965 I went to “see” Captain Ripamonti together with my uncle after the two motorcycle cops stopped me and found out I was without a driver’s license (see My Story). Right after the two policemen stopped me they called their boss to ask if I was his relative. They were afraid of embarrassing their chief if they gave me any trouble. When Captain Ripamonti told them that I was not his relative the two cops felt free to go ahead and write me up. Captain Ripamonti was unable to do anything to keep me from getting in trouble with the authorities because by the time we visited him, the Italian legal system had taken its unrelenting course. The Latins use to say, dura lex, sed lex. Meaning, the law is harsh, but it is the law.
There was also a highly respected Minister of Health from a town called Gorgonzola, in Lombardy, named Camillo Ripamonti. One of the few honest politicians in Italy he was invited to be part of the cabinet of seven coalition governments because of the excellent technical expertise he could contribute. Camillo Ripamonti had a degree in Engineering. He also chaired several committees when some serious ethical problems surfaced during his tenure.