NWS Earle present formal military funeral service for Joseph Azzolina By MURIEL J. SMITH Posted:04/27/10
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Middletown (Monmouth County, NJ) - An estimated 2000 people came to pay their final respects to former State Senator Joseph Azzolina last Wednesday and Thursday, and hundreds attended the funeral at Mary Mother of God Church in New Monmouth Friday, each bringing his own prayer and leaving with his own special memories of the man who was husband, dad, Pop Pop, legislator, Navy captain, boss, relative or friend.
In the end, the Azzolina family did everything their patriarch would have wished, and did it to the same high standards he always set. He would have been proud.
A small group of relatives met at Pfleger Funeral Home Wednesday afternoon to pay their respects to Azzolina, who died April 15. Following a brief viewing there, several followed the hearse as it was led by a Highlands Police escort along Bay Avenue, passing the former Food Basket food store where a young Joe had worked with his sister, the late Grace Scaduto and his parents, the late John and Angelina Azzolina. The cortege then passed along Shrewsbury Avenue to 35 Miller St. where the senior Azzolina's opened their first candy store during the Depression, before returning to St. Mary's Church where the Senator lay in state Wednesday and Thursday.
Throughout the ten hours that visitors filed past the casket during those two days, members of the NWS Earle Sea Cadets served as an Honor Guard at the head of the casket. Azzolina was a driving force in forming the unit at Earle 40 years ago.
The Elks, Lions Club, VFW Post 2179, of which Joe was a lifetime member, the Middletown Fire Department, and Monsignor Walsh all offered special ceremonies and prayers Wednesday and Thursday evenings.
The visitors who came to show their respects and express their sympathy to Mrs. Azzolina, their six children and other family members were living proof of the broad range of friendship Azzolina exhibited throughout his 84 years and the number of lives he impacted over decades. They were the rich and the poor, the old and the young, the uniformed and the civilian, the veteran and the employee, the union member and the business owner. Many took advantage of the pads that were on a table in the church anteroom and the invitation to write their own memories of Azzolina. Many others spent time reviewing the exhibits that brought memories of Azzolina's several generations of family, his work to bring the USS New Jersey back home, and numerous other aspects of his life.
Monsignor Michael J. Walsh, pastor, offered the mass together with another priest and deacon, and members of the family, including grandchildren Danielle and Michael Azzolina, did the readings. Danielle also presented her grandfather's favorite musical piece on the piano. Azzolina's oldest son, Joseph, brought a Foodtown plastic bag to the altar and displayed a branch from a Miller St. tree his grandfather had planted when they opened the first store in Highlands.
Following the Mass, pallbearers from the NOSC, Naval Operation Support Center, and a detail from NWS Earle, served as pallbearers; Navy officers and state legislators alike formed an honor guard as the casket left the church and was placed in the hearse. Bagpipers from the NJ State Police played melodies while family went to their vehicles.
Graveside ceremonies at Fair View cemetery were limited to the family, where Sailors from NWS Earle, Colts Neck, and NOSC Earle, Leonardo, presented a formal military funeral service with a 18-gun salute. Sailors also saluted the casket as pallbearers brought it for the graveside ceremony. Following prayers by Monsignor Walsh, and the folding of the American flag that was on the casket, Navy Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman, NOSC Earle, and a family friend from childhood, presented the flag to Mrs. Azzolina "...on behalf of a grateful nation..."
More than 500 invited guests than joined in a Celebration of Life Program at the Shore Casino. Master of Ceremonies and former Senator S. Thomas Gagliano, senior vice president of EPS Corporation, noted that all branches of his service to others were reiterated by guest speakers, Danielle and her brother Michael representing the family, Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno, and former Governors Thomas Kean and Donald DiFrancesco, State Senators Joseph Kyrillos and Jennifer Beck, and Assemblyman Michael Arnone representing his role in politics, Peter Lavoy, former president of Foodtown, Inc. and Harvey Whille, president of United Food and Commercial Workers Local 1262, representing business, Roseann S. Weber, Regional vice president for the American Cancer Society, representing his philanthropy, and Commander Francesco A. Musorrafiti (USN ret) representing his military accomplishments and contributions.
The family expressed their thanks to all "for being a part of Joe's remarkable life and for sharing this day with us."
The Joe Azzolina Memorial Fund is being established to continue Joe's charitable works, the family said. Contributions can be made to Joe Azzolina Memorial Fund, 853 Highway 35, PO Box 278, Middletown, NJ 07748.
Predeceased by his parents, John and Angelina, his sister Grace, who died of cancer in 2001, his brother-in-law, Louis Scaduto, Sr., who died in 2004, and his son, Paul, Azzolina is survived by his wife, Roselyn Picone Azzolina, two daughters, Judith of Middletown, and Mary Ann Azzolina Orzechowski and her husband Paul of Middletown, Joseph, Jr., Red Bank, Gregg of Seattle Wash., Mark of Middletown, John and his wife Donna, and three grandchildren, Michael, Danielle and Paul; nieces and nephews, Philip and Louis Scaduto Jr., and their children, Carol Scaduto Tarpey and their children, all of Middletown, and Lisa Scaduto Giordano and her children.
