Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series on the people who have helped build Manteca as the city gets ready to celebrate the 100th anniversary of incorporation this year.

A spirited young Italian boy vigorously playing his piccolo caught the attention of a Portuguese Festa organizer who put him in the Holy Ghost Celebration parade in the 1920s.
Frank Fiore Sr.’s musical talents were passed on to his four children who learned to play the organ and the accordion.  Even today son Frank leads the teen choir at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church.
Frank would grow into a very successful business man in Manteca establishing the Center Appliance and Center Plumbing businesses in downtown Manteca at the corner of North Main and Center streets with the support of his wife Frances.
His parents came from Italy, first Grandma in 1912 and then later Grandpa Fiore who had to wait until he saved enough money for the trip. He met his 8-year-old son Frank for the first time in 1920. His pregnant wife Caterina had traveled before him landing at Ellis Island.
The Fiore children all worked in the store after school growing up with assigned chores from polishing and dusting appliances to putting pipe fittings into bins in the warehouse.  They grew to adulthood adding 13 grandchildren – eight girls and five boys – to the family. 
Frank loved racing boats and in 1938 saw his “Vagabond Lady” reach a speed of 37.5 miles per hour in the Motorboat Labor Day races on Lake Merritt in Oakland.
Center Appliance is now 69 years old and is located at its new location of 2020 Crestwood Avenue after being just south of Lathrop Road on North Main Street since 1979. Employees remember always knowing when Frank was near because of his whistling habit and smoking one of his favorite cigars. His son Frank recalled that the family business was once the largest employer in the Manteca area with some 60 workers until Spreckels Sugar opened its plant on the east side of Manteca.
The Fiores would host dinners at Stockton restaurants for their friends and staff at Risso’s, Albert’s and Lido’s in Manteca.
Former Manteca Mayor Ed Pitt’s father-in-law Ed De Mullen worked as a plumber.  Frank Sr. started doing plumbing work under him.  He eventually contracted with Raymus Real Estate and Atherton Homes to do the plumbing on their new homes being built in and around the city. 
The present appliance showroom is some 4,000 square feet in size but the warehouse is much larger. It consists of 12,500 square feet behind the showroom. 
Frank Sr. was in the U.S. Army Air Corps in World War II serving in England working as a master sergeant.  When he got back to the states he was determined to find his future bride who lived in Westville, Illinois, near Chicago.   Under the pretext of buying a car in Detroit he headed for Chicago. He was hoping she would respond favorably to his proposal in nearby Westville. Frances was hesitant, his children said, and his response was, “You are going to marry me or not?” and he took her back to Manteca with him. 
The Fiore family home was always filled with love and laughter with their five children. Middle son Joseph passed away in his early 50s in 2003.
The family built a cabin as a retreat in Soda Springs and hung a sign over the fireplace that reads, “All because two people fell in love.”  Frances played the organ too, being self-taught.  Frank said they still have a calendar on the wall where family members post the dates they wish to use the cabin.
Son Frank’s daughter, Denise Maestas, is the only one of the grandchildren who works in the business today.  She is handles accounts receivable and accounts payable duties in the office. The grandkids are all in their 40s now and Frank’s son Todd is 43.  The Fiore family always has celebrated Christmas together, rotating to each other’s homes 
To contact Glenn Kahl, email gkahl@mantecabulletin.com.