Posted on: Friday, October 8, 2004
Son returns favor in Italy
By Rod Ohira
Advertiser Staff Writer
Roderick McPhee, president emeritus of Punahou School, can only imagine how his late father felt on Oct. 12, 1945, when he was named an honorary citizen of Genoa, Italy.
Roderick McPhee McPhee and his wife, Sharon, visited the city in northwestern Italy on Sept. 28 to return "Colombo" to the people of Genoa on the occasion of the city's being named the 2004 cultural capital of Europe. The presentation was made to Mayor Giuseppe Pericu.
McPhee also gave the mayor photos of the 1945 presentation of the book to his father by Vannuccio Faralli, the first mayor of post-World War II Genoa. Looking at the photos, McPhee realized he was in the same room of the Palazzo Tursi where the ceremony honoring his father had taken place 59 years ago.
It was a coincidence, McPhee said, but "it blew my mind."
"It was actually chilling to be in the same room," McPhee said, "and I felt my father was with me. It was an absolutely wonderful reception in Genoa, absolutely fantastic."
The "Colombo" volume, which had been in his late father's home in Madison, Wis., is written in English and German and is a "museum-quality book," McPhee said. It has about 400 pages but McPhee has only browsed through it. His father died in 1973 and the book remained on a shelf for many years.
"It's 20 inches tall and heavy," Sharon McPhee said. "It was a huge thing to carry around."
Roderick McPhee said a friend, Roberto Grasso, suggested he return the book to Genoa and set up the Sept. 28 presentation.
Maurizio Tagliattini writes in "The Discovery of North America" that in 1932, the city of Genoa published a large volume titled "Colombo" with the clear intent of supplementing 15 volumes published in 1892-96 on the life of Christopher Columbus.
In three editions — written in Italian, English-German and French-Spanish — the 1932 volume "leaves little doubt that it was intended to convey to the whole reading world that, yes, Christopher Columbus was not only an Italian born in Genoa but, as a natural consequence, also a Christian of proven faith," Tagliattini said.
"It's of great interest to the students of Columbus ... and something that can be shared with the citizens," McPhee said.
Reach Rod Ohira at 535-8181 or rohira@honoluluadvertiser.com. Correction: The late Col. Eugene McPhee was military governor of Genoa from April 1945 to December 1947. The ending year of his service was incorrect in a previous version of this story.
On that day, Col. Eugene R. McPhee, the military governor of Genoa from April 1945 to December 1947, was presented with a volume of "Colombo," the 1932 work commissioned by the city of Genoa to commemorate its native son, Christopher Columbus, Roderick McPhee said.
Punahou president emeritus Roderick McPhee, center, and wife, Sharon, present Genoa Mayor Giuseppe Pericu with the volume.
