The discovery opened the path to citizenship.
Carla Galletti worked for the city government, helping Denver residents and business owners for 20 years. Before that, she was an English teacher in Japan, Korea, and Kuwait. Now retired, she has plenty of time for family and hobbies. She has always loved traveling, foreign cultures, languages, genealogy, and music—especially the piano.
This story is part of a Global Slovakia project documenting the journeys of Slovak descendants reconnecting with their heritage through Citizenship by Descent and the Slovak Living Abroad Certificate.
Looking back on my life, the journey to Slovak citizenship began when I was only three or four years old. I was staying at my Slovak grandmother’s house in Windsor, Canada. She used to make me repeat Slovak words over and over: prosím, ďakujem, dobré ráno, dobrú noc… It was very difficult for me as a small child, but those words became deeply embedded in my memory and stayed with me for life.
Although my grandmother was born in the U.S., she valued her Slovak heritage and instilled that pride in all her grandchildren, including me. I grew up eating cabbage rolls, nut rolls, and pirohy, and I slept under a thick down comforter (perina). Even though she was critical of the communist regime, my grandmother visited Czechoslovakia numerous times during the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s. She brought back handicrafts and told stories about the friendly, hardworking people and the therapeutic spas.
