This is my Grandfather, Peter Prato, and his best friend, and my father’s Godfather, Leo Taddeo, whom I knew growing up as Uncle Leo. The photo was taken in Williamsport, PA, in the late 1940s.

Uncle Leo passed away a little over a year ago. He ran a restaurant called The Columbia, one of the only places we ate Italian out.

Every time I saw him, he’d shake my hand and kiss me on the cheek and slip me a twenty. It was an insane amount of money for a kid.

After dinner, he’d give me and my sister a single Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.

I would have done anything for these men. They taught me to be decent, and loyal, and not to put up with bullshit. They also taught me the power of bribing children.

~ shared by @peterprato