Dover Library welcomes author Dominic Gangale on Thursday

Dover Public Library will host a book signing for Dominic Gangale on Thursday at 6.30pm in the Community Hall.

Gangale has published two books, “The Greater the Love, The Deeper the Grieving,” a poetic tribute to his late wife, Dale, and a novel, “Love Me Silently,” in the past year. When he came to the United States at the age of 11, he did not speak English. Today, he is an author who is halfway through a third book.

Dominic and his father, Antonio, traveled to America from the small village of Pallagorio in southern Italy. In search of a better life, they settle in Cleveland, where Antonio has a sister. Dominic’s mother Caterina and her six siblings followed a year later. “Dom” attended West Tech High School, learning English without the aid of ESL classes or extra help. “You just learned because you had to to survive,” he said.

In high school, he met his future wife, started college, then went to Vietnam instead.

After training to go overseas, he was one of two company men chosen to work at Camp Smith in Hawaii, where he handled orders for the entire Pacific Fleet. It was in Hawaii that he received his naturalization papers and became an American citizen.

After returning from military service, Dominic worked for the Micelli Dairy in Cleveland. Because many of the workers were Italian immigrants and did not speak English, he was able to translate for them. He quickly rose through the ranks, learning the trade, so when a small cheese factory in Sugar Creek came up for sale, the couple bought it and moved to New Philadelphia. They built the business and then sold that factory, The Union Cheese Company, to Guggisburg Cheese, now one of the largest Swiss cheese makers in the world.

Dominic and Dale were married on August 29, 1970, at St. Rocco’s Church in Cleveland. They raised five children, Annette, Jennifer, Antonio, Dominic and Caterina. There were six grandchildren and a large garden.

“I didn’t like English lessons in high school,” Dominic said, “especially the spelling,” but something inside made me want to write.” So, with three of his children in college, he decided to go back to school and take writing classes.“They helped a lot with the creativity,” he said.

When Dale died, Dominic was so overwhelmed with grief that he could not communicate with anyone for two months. During this time, he coped with his grief by writing poems to his wife, expressing his love and sadness. Eventually he showed the work to his children who suggested he collect the poems into a book. He never intended to publish, but as he collected poems and photos, he linked them to Bible verses, intertwined with a running narration of the Gangale lives together. The book became a lesson in the stages of grief, the strength of faith and awareness.

Dominic decided to post when he realized he might be able to bring some peace to others who had experienced the same grief as him. “I just didn’t think I could survive this,” he said, “but the Lord sees to it that you do.” The book was finished in just eight months. He had started working on his second book while writing the first.

“Love Me Silently” deals with the unexpected reappearance of an old lover that causes the main character to re-examine his life. The third book will incorporate some of its characters, along with a number of new twists.