50 YEARS AT HOUGHTON LAKE
Pictured are (front row, left to right) Sergio Gaglio, Lorenzo Gaglio (holding Violetta Vitale), Lia Giannotti, Nicholas Giannotti, Adriana Vitale, Matthew Giannotti, Grace Candela, Matteo Vitale, Dominic Vitale, Francesco Ventimiglia, Salvo Vitale, Gina Vitale, (second row) Anthony Vitale, Allison Vitale, Angela Vitale, Vince Vitale (holding Vinny Vitale), Francesca Vitale, Lia Maloney, Piera Vitale (holding Luke Vitale), Paola Ventimiglia, Lena Monsu (holding Giuliana Candela), Lucia Candela, Nino Vitale, Luca Vitale, (back row) Nico Maloney, Gaetano Vitale, Kelly Vitale, Guy Vitale, Rose Vitale, Sal Vitale (holding Leo Vitale), Gloria Candela, Nick Candela, Damiano Vitale, Andrew Ventimiglia, Joe Ventimiglia, Joe Monsu, Rose Ventimiglia, Salvatore Monsu, Tom Vitale, Maria Vitale, Rosalie Karawan, Faith Karawan, Guy Vitale, Maria Vitale, Sera Badalamenti, Nina Badalamenti, Sal Ventimiglia and Paolo Vitale. Not pictured are Marco Vitale, Jen Vitale, Nikky Vitale, Sam Badalamenti, Ed Maloney, Tommy Maloney, Julia Gaglio, Frank Ventimiglia, Andre Ventimiglia, Jay Karawan, Jacqueline Kujawski, Chris Kujawski, Antonelle Kujawski, Joey Kujawski, Rosalie Vitale, Anthony Vitale, Maria Wilmot and Brandon Wilmot. (Photos by Cheryl Holladay)
By Cheryl Holladay
Family and faith are at the heart of 50 years of vacations together for the more than 70 members of the Vitale family.
The Vitales have been vacationing at Houghton Lake every year since 1973.
They started gathering yearly at Sunset Bay in the 70s, moved on to Tradewinds and WestWinds resorts in the 80s and 90s. For one year, they stayed at the Morris’s Northernaire Resort.
During the week of Aug. 5 to 12 this year, more than 50 Vitale family members celebrated five decades of their vacation tradition at Oak Beach Resort, the resort they have been staying at for the last 14 years.
Most members of the Vitale family currently live in a variety of downstate cities: Wyandotte, Taylor, Southgate, Riverview, Belleville, Warren and Macomb Township. There are also family members in Chicago and Louisiana.
However, their family roots go back to Cinisi, Sicily.
LA FAMIGILIA FORTI
The Vitales have a coat of arms, so to speak, on their matching T-shirts: Crossed canoe paddles, surrounded by logos of a sunrise, dining utensils, a heart with a cross inside and a campfire. The top line says “Forti Family Fun” and the bottom line says “Houghton Lake.” Because the Vitale name is as common in Italy as Smith is in the U.S., the family came up with the nickname, Forti, which they said means “strong” in Italian. Modeling the shirt is Rosalie Vitale-Karawan. (Photos by Cheryl Holladay)
Five Vitale siblings, Vincenzo (“Vince”), Damiano, Lena, Paola and the late Fara – the children of Gaetano and Rosalia Vitale – immigrated to the United States with their parents in 1959.
The Italian family settled in the Detroit area and expanded.
Among the answers to the question, “What is the best part of being part of a large family?” were: “You’re never lonely,” “you always have friends,” “holidays,” “support system” and even “scapegoat!”
Family members spend time going on “girls’ weekends” and “cousins’ nights” and continue the tradition of Sunday dinners.
“I don’t think you’ll find a tighter-knit family than this one,” Nino Vitale said.
In fact, there are several Vitale-Vitale marriages within the family, because the Vitale name is as common in Sicily as Smith is in the U.S.
Vitale family member Lia Maloney said that in the early 1970s, Fara and Nino Vitale, who had four young kids, were looking for a place to spend a fun week on vacation.
Houghton Lake became the vacation destination after Nino Vitale received a recommendation from a friend.
The next year, in 1973, they invited Fara’s brother and his wife, Vince and Frances Vitale, and their two young kids, Maloney said.
The siblings of the Vitale family consisted of two more sisters and one more brother, she said, and as each married and started a family, they joined in on the yearly vacation.
A FAMILY TRADITION
Lia Maloney said the Vitale family’s favorite tradition is probably putting the picnic tables together and eating dinner all together, as pictured here in 2016. “Each family makes a side, we have a big buffet table and everyone digs in,” she said. (Courtesy photo)
While at Houghton Lake, the family spends most of its time at the resort, enjoying swimming at the sandy beach or fishing on the lake.
Salvatore “Toto” Vitale said the fishing this summer has been “beautiful.”
Maloney said the first tradition they started was on the last beach day, Friday. The cousins would try to get Nonno, (their grandpa), the late Gaetano Vitale, wet.
“He would run around the beach pretending to protest as we chased him and splashed him,” she said, “until he finally fell into the water and gave up.”
Maloney said two of their uncles enjoyed fishing and the cousins would take turns going with them.
“Uncle Salvatore still enjoys fishing and teaching the next generation,” she said.
FIVE SIBLINGS
Taken on the waterfront at Oak Beach Resort in 2019, this photo captures the elder Vitale siblings (from left to right) Lena and Salvatore Monsu, Joe and Paola Ventimiglia, Nino and the late Fara Vitale, Vincenzo “Vince” and Francesca Vitale and Damiano and Piera Vitale. Vince, Damiano, Lena, Paola and Fara immigrated with their parents, Gaetano and Rosalia Vitale, to the United States in 1959.
(Courtesy photo)
Because their faith is important to them, the Vitales attend worship services at St. Hubert Catholic Church or Our Lady of the Lake Catholic Church.
They also shop for necessities throughout their week-long stay.
“Our family spends almost all of the time just sitting around the tables, the beach, the fire pit and the cabins…We may venture off in small groups for antiquing or souvenir shopping, but for the most part, we stay together doing nothing,” Angela Vitale said.
Among their traditions over the years, playing shuffleboard and bocce ball, going putt-putting, going to a movie, and, before it closed several years ago, going to Zubler’s on Thursdays to see the powwow. A few years ago, the Forti 5K was started.
Maloney said their favorite tradition is probably putting the picnic tables together and eating dinner all together.
“Each family makes a side, we have a big buffet table, and everyone digs in,” she said. “Uncle Joe started our corned beef hash breakfast tradition. He makes it for all of us and it is the best we have ever tasted. Our mouths water just thinking about it.”
The family vacation is something they all look forward to and she said they book the vacation in advance.
“It really hasn’t been difficult keeping it going,” she said. “We call it ‘The Happiest Week of the Year.’”
She said her generation looked forward to it as kids, “and now our kids do.”
LOTS TO DO
Oak Beach Resort has a variety of activities to keep the kids busy, including tetherball, sand volleyball, table tennis, swimming, fishing and paddle boat and pontoon rentals. Pictured are (left to right) Lucia Candela, Nicholas Giannotti and Matteo Vitale.
Family members see each other many times per year, she said, and talk about it often.
“It is just part of the fabric of our family,” she said.
At some point during the summer, the grandchildren start counting down to the day when the week-long family get-together starts, always the first full week of August.
Brenda Schulz, who owns Oak Beach Resort with her husband, John, said they have a more than 95% customer return rate.
“They’re some of the best renters we have,” she said, of the Vitales.
The Schulzes have owned the resort for 20 years, she said, and “fun people attract fun people!”
She said Oak Beach Resort rents only weekly in the summer, from Saturday to Saturday, as was the old Houghton Lake tradition.
The resort has sand volleyball, table tennis, carpet ball, tether-ball, paddle boat and pontoon rentals and 150 feet of waterfront property.
“She has the freshest water in the lake,” Anthony Vitale said, of Brenda Schulz.
YOUNGEST AND OLDEST
Nino Vitale, 83, and Luke Vitale, 2 ½, were the oldest and youngest family members, respectively, at this year’s family vacation at Oak Beach Resort. Another Vitale is expected this fall.
Angela Vitale said there were a few times when a resort owner decided to sell out or they had a hard time finding a resort that could host them all. There were a few years that Brenda Schulz allowed the Vitale kids to pitch a tent and sleep outside, she said.
“She just didn’t have enough available cabins for all of us,” she said. “At this point, we have all but one cabin.”
Mark and Misty Rosenthal of Belleville are the only other renters the week the Vitales stay at Oak Beach Resort.
What is it like being the only non-Vitales at the resort?
“They’re awesome,” Mark Rosenthal said. “They treat us like family.”
Misty Rosenthal shares a birthday with Vince Vitale and some Vitale family members attended the Rosenthals’ wedding.
Lia Maloney described the Rosenthals as “framily – friends that become family.”
She said Houghton Lake is like the Vitales’ home away from home.
“Because home is where your heart is,” she said, “and our hearts are with each other.”
FAMILY FUN
Members of the Vitale family, seen here in 2021 at Oak Beach Resort, Houghton Lake, have been gathering at Houghton Lake every summer since 1973. More than 50 people gathered for this year’s vacation, held the first full week of August. (Courtesy photo)
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