WESTERLY — When Joseph Nigrelli Sr. — the patriarch of Westerly's "First Family of Jewelry" — answered the knock on his front door one recent afternoon, he was a little taken aback to see Dr. Daniel Gaccione standing there before him.
When Gaccione announced he was there to tell Nigrelli he'd been named the Dante Society of Westerly's 2023 Person of the Year, Nigrelli was doubly taken aback.
"It was quite a surprise," said a smiling Nigrelli earlier this week as he sat at his kitchen table, recounting the story.
Like most longtime Westerly residents, Nigrelli has known Gaccione — the popular, recently retired orthopedic physician — since "Danny" was a boy riding his bike through the streets of town. For Nigrelli to see the grown man now known as "The Doc" and hear him make such an announcement was both amusing and humbling, Nigrelli said, but mostly surprising.
"And, it was quite an honor," said Nigrelli who turns 98 next month. "Quite a surprise for anyone to pick a guy like me.
"I don't know what I did to earn it," said Nigrelli with a little laugh. "But I've made a lot of friends over the last 75 years."
The award, presented to a person who "best exemplifies the society's aims, that is, to preserve and foster the Italian culture," according to club officials, was created to highlight the positive contributions made by Italian-Americans to the community.
Since word has spread through Westerly about Nigrelli's honor, the outpouring of love has been overwhelming, Gaccione said in an email.
"Everyone I have heard from wants to attend the banquet in order raise a glass of vino to him," said Gaccione. "It will be a night to remember."
Gaccione, who chairs the society's Person of the Year Committee, said Nigrelli was selected for the Dante Society's annual honor for a number of reasons.
"He's a kind and generous man with a legendary sense of humor," Gaccione said, "and he has served our community on a professional, personal and volunteer level for 75 years.
"Before his business became the foundation of Westerly’s downtown commercial district," continued Gaccione, "he proudly served our country in the Pacific theater during World War II."
Nigrelli, a 1943 Westerly High School graduate, was a a tail gunner attached to the 315th Bomb Wing of the 20th Air Force. He flew 15 missions, including the final bombing mission of World War II. After the war, Nigrelli attended watchmaking school in Kansas City, Missouri, learned about gems and jewels and repairing timepieces, then returned and opened his first shop on Canal Street in 1948.
Later, he moved to 27 High St., where Nigrelli's Jewelry has been a fixture ever since, and where, as the Nigrelli family has stated in the shop's promotional materials, "nearly every customer is a repeat customer and a member of the family."
While Joe still stops into the store "about once a week," he said, to check in with his son, William "Billy" Nigrelli, and the staff of faithful employees, which includes Billy's wife, Renee, their son, Connor, his sister, Sandra Ruhfel and his cousin, Bobby Nigrelli.
"It's really wonderful for him to be honored like this," said Billy, who now owns the High Street shop since he took over ownership from his older brother, Joe. Jr., who retired in 2017.
His father is the kind of person who will "help anyone in need," Billy said.
"He would never turn anyone away," he said. "If someone needed something and he could help, he would."
"And he's quite the storyteller," he said. "He can mesmerize you with his stories."
Joe Nigrelli's World War II stories are indeed mesmerizing, as are his stories about his late mother, Theresa (who lived to be 102 years old and who was a fixture at the jewelry shop) and his late wife, Helen, who died in 2021.
"She was a wonderful woman and everyone loved her," Nigrelli said about his wife of 69 years, as he sat before Helen's portrait in the sitting room of his home on the aptly named Emerald Street. "And she was the prettiest woman I ever saw."
"My family and I are all so proud that he's being given this honor," said Nigrelli's daughter, Cathy Arcello of Portsmouth. "He truly is deserving."
"His stories about his Italian heritage and growing up in Westerly are endless," she added. "And he's been the kindest, most loving, caring and supportive dad."
"He's an amazing guy," Arcello said, "and he has such a great attitude.
"I know he really misses my mom," she added, "but look at him, he's still so independent ... and he's so well-loved and so well-cared-for."
Her father was also one of the earliest members of the Rotary Club of Westerly, Arcello added, and still attends meetings when he can.
Fellow Rotarian Douglas Rayner, a retired physician and longtime friend of Nigrelli's, called Nigrelli "a great community servant, in the most understated manner," in a 2015 interview about "The "Bulldog Rumble," a march Nigrelli wrote.
Rayner, who stepped down earlier this year from his volunteer position overseeing the Chorus of Westerly's annual Summer Pops, said Nigrelli always finds a way "to respond to whatever might be asked.
"He is a kind and gentle man with an absolute commitment to his family, friends and community," said Rayner. "Joe, his company and his family have been great friends to the Chorus of Westerly, and we thank him in the best way possible — with music."
"He's the epitome of the good downtown merchant," said former Westerly Fire Department Chief David Sayles, who stopped by the jewelry store one afternoon last week.
Sayles, who served as a guardian on the "Honor Flights" — an effort funded by the Rhode Island Association of Fire Chiefs Foundation responsible for flying veterans to Washington, D.C., to to visit the memorials built to commemorate their service and sacrifice — accompanied Joe Nigrelli Sr. and Billy on an honor flight in April of 2017.
"He always has a smile on his face," Sayles said, "and a pleasant greeting for everyone."
"What is there not to say about Joe Nigrelli?" Gaccione asked in a recent email. "Has there ever been a more beloved man than Joe or a beloved family business than Nigrelli’s Jewelry?"