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Graziella Bush

Born in France of Italian parents, Graziella Bush grew up in Tarcento, a northern Italy village near the borders of Austria and Yugoslavia. She has lived in Columbus since 1964, and is former director of the Visitor's Center. Now semi-retired, she is on the board of the Columbus Housing Authority and Ivy Tech, and is president of the Cosmopolitan Club. Her hobbies include gardening, sewing, art and music.

Adjusting to life in Columbus was difficult because of the geographic differences, including proximity to mountains and beaches in Italy. She missed the gardens and natural beauty of her home town "until one day I discovered the gorgeous Irwin gardens" in downtown Columbus. "They made me feel at home," she said. "To me, they were a safe haven." Europeans are more crowded and make better use of the land, as opposed to the open spaces and big lawns of America. But the convenience of discount stores and general shopping is lacking there, and the "do-it-yourself" culture is not prevalent. Until the 1980s, she felt Europeans were three or four years ahead of Americans in fashions and philosophies and other trends. "The thing that made me feel comfortable here was some people's attitudes in my neighborhood...people took me under their wings...they were very kind and accepted me and my funny ways of doing things, my funny ways of thinking," she said.

Opportunities to excel abound in the U.S., and she feels she has been accepted here, given opportunities and an education. "If you have a will and you're intelligent and you work hard, you can make whatever you want to in this country. In other countries, you have to overcome so much bureaucracy, so much status, so many drawbacks that you just cannot get out of the little niche where society has put you." Though she speaks fluent English, Graziella says sometimes people "go into total block" because they can't understand her speech. Then she slows down and makes more of an effort to get to know people. "People won't discriminate against you if they know you," she says.

She has participated in several Ethnic Expo celebrations, displaying artifacts from the various regions of Italy, where every region or village has a different costume and different dialect. Holidays in Italy are marked with religious observances, pageantry, dances and remembering the deceased. She is married to Dr. Robert Bush, and has three children and two stepchildren.