[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 18, 2012)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E34]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       IN HONOR OF MR. JOE DeCARO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. DENNIS J. KUCINICH

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 18, 2012

  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in honor of Mr. Joe DeCaro, 
an iconic produce vendor at Cleveland's West Side Market for almost 80 
years.
  Joe's parents, Italian immigrants, opened the DeCaro vegetable stand 
at Cleveland's West Side Market in 1934. Joe began working at the 
produce stand at the age of seven with his siblings. Throughout college 
at The Ohio State University, he would come home to work the stand on 
weekends. The only period of time in which Joe did not work at the 
DeCaro stand was during his service in World War II.
  For seventy-seven years Joe has been a fixture at the West Side 
Market, taking the stand over when his parents passed away. He has run 
the stand by his motto, which is mounted above his produce: ``Good food 
is not cheap and cheap food is not good.''
  Today, Joe is the patriarch of a large and close-knit DeCaro family. 
He is married to his wife Rhea, and together they raised nine children. 
Joe is also the proud grandfather of 23 and great-grandfather to 14 
children.
  Mr. Speaker and colleagues, please join me in honoring Mr. Joe 
DeCaro, one of the West Side Market's most iconic produce vendors.

                          ____________________