Francis Camosse’s family serves as an example of the American dream.

“So my great grandfather came over 1910 from Italy, from Sicily,” Camosse said, “And he and my grandfather opened up a grocery store. My great-grandfather asked my grandfather, ‘do you want to continue with this grocery store or do you want to manufacture concrete block?’ and my grandfather was like, ‘I want to manufacture concrete block.’ So, they started from the ground up, they had one forklift, they had the first machine to manufacture concrete block [in Western Massachusetts]. And they did that.”

But, as times changed, the family has continued to adapt. “It’s still going on today. [The business] stopped the manufacturing process.” The family realized they were spending way more money than they were able to recoup in the creation of the masonry – and decided to give up that piece of the business to focus on the landscaping side.”

At least Fran has been a part of the business since he was in middle school. “I remember waking up my father would wake me up when I was 1213 years old at five in the morning because he would go to work early, stay late and fall asleep in the backseat on the 20 minute drive to Worcester and go to work.” Camosse learned how to run a business, from licking stamps for the envelopes to sending out invoices to driving a forklift. ” I learned how to drive a forklift before I learned how to drive a car. I remember crashing one,” Camosse said with a laugh, “It was inevitable! I have two older brothers, I think we all did it.”

Once he was out of college, he found himself working for the church and skating. An opportunity to take foreigners on road trips through America called “Trek America” fell through, but he still had a desire to travel America. That’s when he decided to leave home to the Pacific coast and walk back home. His family was skeptical until he decided to buy the ticket and actually do it.