John Taini

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. On the first day of November, 1854, a boy named John Taini came into the world in Rezzato, Italy, a town near Brescia, born to Gerolamo and Lucia Prandelli Taini. Now, Rezzato was the kind of place where a man could learn to read stone the way others read books, and that's exactly what young John did.

He became a stonemason. And that skill, it turns out, was a ticket to a much longer journey than he probably imagined standing in the quarry dust of northern Italy. An American contractor came calling, recruited Taini and his partner, a man named G.B.

Cassinelli, with promises of work building structures in New York. Those projects fell through. Just like that.

But here's the thing about a man who shapes stone for a living: he doesn't crumble. Taini and Cassinelli pivoted, found work with the railroads, and then landed a contract with the U.S. Army, constructing stone buildings at Fort Clark in Brackettville, Texas.

Texas. That's the turn in the road right there. Like many hired on at Fort Clark, Taini and Cassinelli eventually made their way to Del Rio, where a whole community of Italians had been putting down roots through the 1880s.

Del Rio suited him. Family tradition holds that Taini returned to Italy in 1889 to wed Erminia Gerola, who was born in 1874 and would live until 1955. The couple came back and raised two daughters, Annie and Lucy, in this sun-baked corner of Val Verde County.

And Taini worked. He worked the way men work when they have something to prove and something to build. He'd already served as a sub-contractor on the Val Verde County Courthouse in 1885.

Then came Southern Pacific Railroad employee housing, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, the Club Café, a Methodist church building in 1904, and more residences than you could count on two stone-calloused hands. Through all of it, the partnership with Cassinelli held, buying and selling real estate alongside the building contracts, until it dissolved by 1904. Even then, Taini kept going.

County contracts, city contracts, the county jail, bridges, canal and creek improvements, two dams across San Felipe Creek. He shaped Del Rio the way he'd been shaped by Rezzato, from the ground up, in stone. And then 1998 arrived.

A flood. Many of Taini's structures, damaged or razed, gone in the water. That's the part that sits heavy when you think about a life spent in masonry, all those years of craft meeting one terrible season.

But here's what the flood could not touch. He had donated land for civic improvements. He had served as an election judge.

He had sat on the board of directors of the Italian Catholic Cemetery, now part of Sacred Heart Cemetery. A man who built for the community and then gave back to it in ways that had nothing to do with stone and mortar. John Taini was buried in 1929, in that same Sacred Heart Cemetery, the place he had served.

A stonemason from Rezzato, Italy, who followed a contractor's promise to New York, found his way to Texas, and left Del Rio marked by his hands in ways that outlasted him, and in some cases, outlasted even the buildings themselves.

What the marker says

On November 1, 1854, John Taini was born in Rezzato, Italy (near Brescia) to Gerolamo and Lucia Prandelli Taini. John later became a stonemason there, and an American contractor recruited him and his partner, G.B. Cassinelli, to build structures in New York. Although those projects fell through, Taini and Cassinelli worked for the railroads and then for the U.S. Army constructing stone buildings at Fort Clark in Brackettville, Texas. Like many hired to work at Fort Clark, Taini and Cassinelli later moved to Del Rio, where many other Italians immigrated in the 1880s. Family tradition holds that Taini returned to Italy in 1889 to wed Erminia Gerola (1874-1955). The couple reared two daughters, Annie and Lucy. Taini maintained his partnership with Cassinelli, building several structures, as well as buying and selling real estate in the Del Rio area. As a stonemason, Taini worked as a sub-contractor on the Val Verde County Courthouse in 1885. Other projects at that time included Southern Pacific Railroad employee housing, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Club Café, the 1904 Methodist church building and numerous residences. Taini's partnership with Cassinelli dissolved by 1904, but he continued working on construction projects. He won multiple county and city contracts, including work on the county jail, bridges, canal and creek improvements, and two dams across San Felipe Creek. Unfortunately, many of Taini's structures were damaged or razed as a result of a 1998 flood. In addition to Taini's architectural contributions, he was also a leader in the Del Rio community. He donated land for civic improvements and served as an election judge and on the board of directors of the Italian Catholic Cemetery, now part of Sacred Heart Cemetery, where he was buried in 1929. (2006)