Chapter 2: Before I Were, There Was………

As I previously stated, my parents are Jake Michael Bellipanni, Jr. and Joy Barnes Bellipanni. My parents brought into this world five of these most perfect boys on this planet. Jake Michael Bellipanni, III was the first to come. Eleven months later, Matthew Barnes Bellipanni arrived. Then two years later, Mark Allen Bellipanni came along. James and I show up ten years later, but we’ll talk about that more in the next chapter.

My father grew up in Indianola, Mississippi. He is the son of Jake Michael Bellipanni, Sr. and Mary Correro Bellipanni. My father had an older brother, James Bellipanni, who died in a hunting accident before I came along. He also has a younger sister, Antoinette Bellipanni. They grew up with the large Italian Bellipanni and Correro families. My grandfather had twelve brothers and sisters. My grandmother died when my dad was around fifteen. We have spent much time visiting my great aunts and uncles in Indianola and Memphis.

My mother grew up in Tutwiler, Mississippi. She is the daughter of Anne Barnes and the late Joe Barnes who died in a car accident shortly after we were born. She has an older brother, Brad Barnes, and three younger sisters, the twins, Jacquanne and Joanne Barnes, and Amy Barnes. Currently I think my uncle lives in southern Mississippi somewhere. My twin aunts are in Cleveland, along with my grandmother. And the youngest is in Sunflower, Mississippi.