Chris Cancilla was born in Cleveland, Ohio, the East Side, in an Italian neighborhood known as Collinwood, near East 158th and St. Clair. He really liked growing up there and would not trade it for anything. The friendships he made in Elementary School at Holy Redeemer and in High School at St. Joseph (now called Villa Angela – St. Joseph’s) are priceless, and some of them are still in force. For most of his youth, he worked in the family business, DiLillo Brothers Dry Cleaners, for his grandfather Carmen DiLillo; and at DiLillo Brothers Men’s Wear for his uncle Tony (everyone called him the Czar). He also “apprenticed” with his Uncle Duke, a smack-dab radio and TV repair shop between the men’s wear store and the dry cleaners. But he enjoyed working in the dry cleaners for his Grandfather the most. Two of the employees, Bertha and Evelyn, were like second mothers to him.
In his youth, he really enjoyed Scouting. Spending a significant portion of it in multiple Cub Scout Packs and Boy Scout Troops and Explorer Posts. Scouting influenced his life positively, and the training, knowledge, and education he gained during his youth in the troop are still influencing his decisions as an adult. The ideals of Scouting, especially the Oath and Law, serve him today as a moral compass, guiding his actions to be a man his family can be proud of in all aspects of his life.
After high school, Chris spent 14 years in the U.S. Air Force, where he managed to see a large chunk of this 3rd stone from our star, but his only regret was that he never made it below the equator, so he never got to see the toilet swirl the other way. His favorite assignment was to Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado, where he could ride motorcycles and camp in the Rocky Mountains during his Air Force career. This is a close second to the 2 years he was assigned to and lived in Keflavik, Iceland, where he and his wife Tammy became the best of friends and experienced some really odd and unique landscapes and adventures. One of which was Chris starting and being the Founding President of the SCUBA Diving Club on Naval Air Station Keflavik, the name of the club was:
“vörn kafara á Íslandi“
He and his wife Tammy live in the Raleigh, North Carolina area, close to Wake Forest. He really misses his little buddy and writing partner, his cat, Snip. Snip followed Chris around from room to room, you may or may not see him all the time, but he is always close by. Unfortunately, snip crossed the rainbow bridge a couple of years ago; he went fast, which is the only consolation. When Chris writes, though, he still is close by. They made a paw print before he was cremated, and that paw print sits on the desk, near the computer at all times.
The Boy Scouts of America is still a considerable part of his life, especially teaching new adults the skills needed to survive the outdoors and reinforcing how these outdoor skills and habits need to be introduced to the leaders of tomorrow. Leave No Trace camping is a significant part of his instruction and is a philosophy in the conservative style of camping Chris enjoys, if not the only way to ensure an excellent time for you and future campers. Wilderness camping is a great way to decompress and gain insight into what is hidden in the inner recesses of your mind. Sitting around a campfire on a cool or cold night, watching the flames dance, and watching the wood that has given its all to the beauty of the moment, allows you to reflect inside your own thoughts and be honest with yourself. The one person you cannot lie to is yourself, so honesty in your own head allows nature a way of bringing all things into clarity.
For example, you are sound asleep, and a noise wakes you up. You realize you left the Dutch Oven sitting on a picnic table. Then you spend all night arguing with a 50-pound raccoon about the cobbler residue in the Dutch Oven on that picnic table; the same Dutch Oven you said you would clean up in the morning. Sometimes, you let the raccoon win!
Chris also has a passion for cooking, and the creation of several cookbooks allows him to experience new cuisines and cooking methods from around the globe. Still, it also provides him with the means to share and teach cooking to less experienced or knowledgeable. By no means does he consider himself a chef, but he does consider himself a somewhat OK cook, both in the home and in the woods.
Cooking in the woods is a skill, not too many people have or have even considered, and it is one skill that Chris enjoys teaching to Scout Leaders, both old and new, in classes he teaches for Scouters (Adult Boy Scout Leaders) and also to the Scouts themselves during COOKING Merit Badge. Chris was happy that the BSA finally made cooking a required merit badge for the Eagle Scout rank. It is a skill that will be valuable for the rest of your life. Especially if you want to prepare a romantic meal for a date or simply provide a meal for yourself that you actually enjoy.
Whenever Chris develops or finishes a new story or cookbook, he permits a couple of people to read his book and offer ideas to improve the storyline or the text in general. Who knows, he may allow you to be the next editor, for which he will definitely give you kudos at the beginning of the book. Thus, immortalizing you in the story for all eternity.
His last hobby is Amateur Radio. In the Raleigh, NC area, you can find him in the mornings on K4ITL and in the evenings on AA4RV; he pops in occasionally to AK4H.
If you use a DMR (Digital Mobile Radio), try to make a QSO with him on the TGIF Network, Talk Group 1870. He monitors that talk group most of the time and would enjoy the QSO.
I hope you enjoyed reading this book, book one in the Archive Series. Please read the others in the series or, if you are interested in cooking, check out the cookbooks or both. If you work with an EDI team and have little to no understanding about Electronic Data Interchange, pick up that briefing booklet. It is well worth your time to read. Let Chris know what you think of the books you read and whether you liked the stories, the briefing, or the recipes.
Chris’s day job is as an EDI B2B Integration Specialist or an EDI Developer. Take your pick; they both mean the same thing. He calls himself a digital mailman. He moves the data and information files from one place to another, but he does not own, nor is he responsible for, the data in any way other than delivering it. So, a mailman! That’s a fancy way to tell someone that you work with computers to translate data from one format to another. After all, the mailman doesn’t write the letters and only moves them from point A to B.