Lovera's still offers authentic Italian ingredients

Mar. 10—A couple walks through a gate beside Lovera's Handcrafted Foods and sets their sandwiches on a picnic table in the courtyard.

They eat and talk with each other in the courtyard with an outdoor brick oven and vines overhead behind the century-old building that houses the Italian style market that's been internationally awarded for its specialty cheeses and meats.

The scene would be familiar to Domenica Lovera, the Italian market store's owner, who said she and her late husband, Sam, would enjoy lunch every day together.

"We had a wonderful life, it just wasn't long enough," Domenica said. "He was my best friend. The calm through the storm."

After they married October 22, 1988, Domenica said she and Sam made a pact to never stop going to lunch together — which they kept until the third-generation Lovera's owner died in January 2020 at 63 after suffering a massive heart attack.

Domenica said they would meet at Chadick Park to have salami and cheese sandwiches or meet at the house for lunch before getting back to work.

"We made a pact, and we kept it," Domenica said.

Sam organized and promoted the Krebs Ethnic Festival, the forerunner to McAlester's Culturefest, among other community events. He also was a longtime volunteer for the Italian Festival, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year after having to cancel each of the past two years.

Bobby Lenardo, an Italian Festival Co-Chairman, previously told the News-Capital that he knew Sam his entire life and admired his willingness to help with the event. Sam called Bobby more than two decades ago to ask what needed to be done for the festival.

Volunteer cooks previously only prepared roughly 40 pounds of meats at a time — but Sam took over meat-mixing duties and the production jumped to 250 pounds at a time.

Many people said they would miss talking with Sammy about baseball, his business acumen, Italian heritage, and just about life.

Domenica grew up in Krebs and knew friends, family and neighbors who butchered or made their own cheeses, but went to Lovera's for authentic Italian staples like pasta, semolina, and more. She remembers getting a quarter or dime from "old timers" when she was a child and excitedly asking her grandmother if she could go to Lovera's.

The store at that time had a playground with a merry-go-round, a double-hump slide and a swing set — plus a whole counter full of candy that cost a penny per piece that local kids loved to peruse. But sometimes she would get creative in finding a way to get some of her favorite snacks at the store after working for her uncles nearby and ending up at the store's counter before going home.

"And grandmother never knew that you had gone to Lovera's unless you had pop or orange Crush on your mouth," Domenica said with a chuckle.

She grew up and moved to Oklahoma City, where she was one of roughly a handful of Sassoon-certified hair stylists in the state at the time. She returned to Krebs in 1985 and worked at local hair salons in the Tandy Town shopping center and others before opening a shop of her own in the historic Aldridge Hotel along Carl Albert Parkway in downtown McAlester.

Sam studied economics at Loyola University and transferred to UC Irvine, where he received his bachelor's degree in 1984. After earning his degree, he spent a year living in Europe, mostly in Northern Italy, before returning home to help the family business.

He was the sausage maker for the store, the cheese and sausage were made in the back of the store, bought cheese from local women to accommodate sales.

"But when Sam got out of college, he came back and saw how hard his dad was working," Domenica said. She said Sam tried to convince his father to make some before ultimately doing it himself while his dad was away.

Domenica said Sam later invited her to a dinner at which he was going to cook for a small group of friends. She liked the idea because the only guy that had ever cooked for her was her dad during her childhood, but she later decided to postpone.

The two talked through friends and to each other at various get-togethers before Sam invited her to another dinner and Domenica agreed to go — only if she could bring her daughter and one of her friends. Sam agreed.

Their relationship grew from there. Sam asked her to lunch, then he started getting his haircut at Domenica's shop, then they started eating lunch together every day until Sammy's death.

Many people in the community remembered Sam — affectionately known as Sammy — as a staple of the community, proud advocate of Italian heritage, and sharp business owner.

Sam was a third-generation owner of Lovera's after acquiring the business from his father, Mike — who bought the business in 1946. The building at 95 NW Sixth St. in Krebs was originally built in 1910.

Domenica said Sam's grandparent's immigrated from Italy to Chicago before settling in Krebs for work in the coal mines. A coal mine accident killed the patriarch and their oldest son, leaving just Sam's grandmother to raise the two surviving children.

She could read and write English, so she worked as a translator and sold spaghetti and Choc beer from her house to support the family.

Her son, Mike Lovera grew up and served in the Navy during World War II aboard the USS Curtis. He returned after serving and asked his mother for his money he sent while overseas and she asked if he would consider buying the store.

Mike bought the store and started it as Mike's Grocery before it became Lovera's, Inc. He was a member of the American Legion and Veteran of Foreign Wars, and married Madeline Rano on Dec. 29, 1951 in Krebs.

He operated the store for 41 years before he died at 66 in 1987.

Superstores created competition that led to Lovera's making adjustments over the years.

The store got its own website around 2000 and renovated the site a decade later for the world to access the fresh-from-the-market goodies.

Domenica said the store continues making changes and works to keep offering the best Italian ingredients, cheeses, meats, and more.