Carmelo "Charles" Bertolino
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(September 4, 1887 - March 8, 1960) Born in Galveston in 1887, Carmelo Bertolino was the son of Salvatore Bertolino (d. 1891) and Rosalia Trapani Bertolino (d. 1942), who immigrated to Texas from Palermo, Italy in the early 1880s. Salvatore Bertolino drowned in Galveston Bay when Carmelo was three years old. Carmelo married Mabel Cousins (1894-1937) in 1911 and became the head of a large family. He worked as a fisherman and as a baker at Graugnard's Bakery. He was an athletic man who swam in the Gulf every day until he was past 70 years of age. A volunteer lifesaver, he is credited with saving more than 500 people from drowning during his lifetime. The tragedy of that type of death had touched his own family; in addition to his father, he lost a brother and a son to accidental drownings in Galveston waters. Carmelo Bertolino was in Italy during the disastrous 1900 storm, but during the 1915 hurricane he was able to save many lives. His heroic efforts later were noted in official citations from the Texas Legislature and President Franklin D. Roosevelt. A monument in his honor was erected shortly after his death, and the Galveston City Council named 10th Street at its intersection with the seawall "Bertolino's View." Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Carmelo Bertolino was born in 1887 in Galveston to Sicilian immigrants who had crossed from Palermo just a few years earlier. A fisherman and baker who swam in the Gulf every day into his seventies, he became a legendary volunteer lifesaver credited with pulling more than 500 people from the water — even as drowning claimed his own father, a brother, and a son. His rescues during the 1915 hurricane drew citations from the Texas Legislature and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and after his death the city named a seawall overlook in his honor.
Why it matters
Bertolino's story binds the immigrant experience to Galveston's uneasy relationship with the sea, honoring an ordinary working man whose quiet heroism outlasted the island's great storms.
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Related people
- · Carmelo Bertolino
- · Salvatore Bertolino
- · Franklin D. Roosevelt
Related events
- · 1915 Galveston hurricane
Themes & tags
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