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WEEK OF MARCH 6, 2025
VOLUME 118 | ISSUE 10
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Amid budget crunch, Youth Advisory Council on chopping block BY JESSE PAUL THE COLORADO SUN
The book “Cheers to 80,” can be found on Amazon.com.
COURTESY BY GENIE PETROCCO
Finding family, writing a book because of DNA test Genie Petrocco’s rediscovered roots inspired her to write a book BY BELEN WARD BWARD@COLORADOCOMMUNITYMEDIA.COM
Genie Petrocco’s new book, “Cheers to 80” had its roots in a PBS series on ancestry. It turns out, the show helped her find some family she didn’t know, as well. Petrocco said she was inspired by the PBS series “Finding Your Roots “ with Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr. “I have always been fascinated by it. While watching the show, I would observe people wondering whether they were Greek or Spanish,” Petrocco said. She loved learning about people’s origins and where they came from so much, it inspired her to take a DNA test herself. The test revealed some new information. “To my surprise, I took the DNA test and discovered a cousin who was related to me from my childhood in the farm-
ing town of Welby, Colorado,” Petrocco said. “I believed I was primarily Italian, but when the results came in, I discovered I was 40% Greek. I explored my ancestry on my dad’s side since I was already familiar with my mother’s ancestry. “ The DNA testing results, her family history, and her upbringing in a farming community inspired Petrocco to start to write a book in 2019. She completed it in 2024 and released it, titled “Cheers to 80”, on Amazon on January 6, 2025. The book focuses on Petrocco, a native of Colorado who traces her family’s history back to her fourth-generation great-grandfather, an immigrant from Italy who arrived in 1885. He initially settled in Denver before moving to Welby, where many Italian immigrants were involved in farming. The book also documents their shared ancestry and new-
found friendship, revealing her 40% Greek heritage and reconnecting with a distant cousin, Alice Gazetta Nichol, who became a significant political figure in Colorado. From Italy to Boston to Denver
Petrocco’s family lineage began with her fourth-generation great-grandfather, Michelangelo Farinacci, who emigrated to America from Italy in the 1880s. “He grew up in a small town called Campobasso before moving to Gildone. He arrived at Boston Harbor, learned about the mines in Colorado, and traveled to Colorado,” Petrocco said. “I often wondered how he arrived in Colorado, perhaps by train. He came to the Denver area with his friend,” Petrocco said. “City Park in Denver was once a farm before it became a park, and my great-grandfather farmed there, and then he heard about a small farming commu-
WESTMINSTER INSIDE: VOICES: PAGE 6 | CULTURE: PAGE 8 | BRIEFS: PAGE 12
nity in Welby.” Petrocco’s great-grandfather Farinacci met Antonia Pastore in Denver and married in 1895 at Sacred Heart Church in Denver. “My great-grandfather Farinacci and his wife traveled to Welby in 1902, where they purchased land, and I have the land deed I found in the Adams County Records. He bought it from two Italian men,” Petrocco said. Petrocco’s third-generation grandmother was Angelina Acierno, her father was Farinacci; her mother was Virginia Acierno, who married her dad, Anthony Joseph Adducci, in 1940. “I never got to know my father; he was very sick, an alcoholic, and abusive,” she said. “After my Mom and Dad’s divorce, we returned to live with my fourth great-grandfather, Farinacci. SEE FAMILY, P4
The Colorado legislature, as part of its efforts to close a budget hole of more than $1 billion, is planning to axe a nearly two-decade program that enlists teenagers from across the state to help draft and offer input on bills. Shutting down the Colorado Youth Advisory Council would save about $50,000 a year. That’s a relatively paltry amount, but it’s meant to send a message that costs must be trimmed wherever possible. The cut foreshadows the big, and often painful, line-item reductions the legislature will have to make in the coming weeks. Sidd Nareddi, who served on COYAC from 2022 to 2024 while he was in high school, said he was heartbroken to hear the program may be discontinued. Now a first-year student at Brown University, Nareddi said being a member of COYAC was one of the most formative experiences of his high school years. “It really was a personal development program for me,” he said. “It’s a very empowering process.” The Colorado Youth Advisory Council was created in 2008 and is composed of 40 junior high and high school students SEE CRUNCH, P13
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