The Little Family that Grew and Grew

The Cappuccino family was growing. In 1957, their second biological son, Pierre Ceresole, named after a Swiss pacifist, was born - the Cappuccinos liked to give their children meaningful names. Their second daughter, Annie Laurie, was a timid Korean toddler who required foot surgery. Then came two baby boys - both born in the U.S., one to mixed-race parents, the other to Sri Lankans. In the next decade, eight boys and five girls from distant lands, and Tibiki a native Canadian daughter, joined the house hold.

In 1967, Fred was invited to head a liberal Unitarian congregation in Pointe-Claire, Que., and brought his multicultural family to Canada. He and Bonnie became Canadian citizens in 1976.

Like Mahatma Gandhi, the Cappuccinos are pacifists, vegetarians, lovers of the truth. They accept every human being, regardless of race, religion, sex, or caste, as equally valuable in the world.

Such convictions have led them to help found an organization, Families for Children, which has placed children of many nationalities in loving North American homes, and - in 1972 - to lead a Canadian group to war-torn Bangladesh to rescue starving orphans, They returned with 15 babies, including a girl, Shikha Deepa Margaret, who became their daughter.

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