Salvatore Joseph Casella, formerly of Southampton, died April 11, 2018. He was 94.
Born March 21, 1924, in what is now known as the Turtle Bay section of Manhattan, then a neighborhood of Italian immigrants, he and his friends used the East River as their swimming pool and the corridors of Bellevue Hospital as their playground. When war came, he and his older brother, Steve, enlisted. Mr. Casella joined the Navy and his brother, the Army. As a Navy coxswain, he steered a landing ship, tank (called an LST) through some of the most difficult landings in the Pacific.
After the war, he married, moved to the suburbs and, with his wife, Lucy, (Britton) had two children, Thomas and Robert. Lucy died before her 33rd birthday and Sal, now a widower, was left to raise two young children. Within a few years, he met a tall, pretty young widow, Catherine (Heinzerling), who was raising her own child by herself. In 1967, they married Catherine and the new family moved to Southampton, where
they owned and operated Beach Plum Cottages and Mastyr Furniture Refinishing.
In fairly quick succession, the couple was blessed with three more children, Jeffrey, Sally and Danny. In 2000, with retirement, Mr. Casella and his wife moved to a family summer home in Beach Lake, Pennsylvania. Now retired, Mr. Casella enjoyed using his ride-on mower on the expansive front yard, tinkering in the basement and just enjoying retirement.
His wife predeceased him in 2014, and afterward Mr. Casella moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to live with his son, Jeff, daughter-in-law Laret, and grandson Finn, until his death. He was also predeceased by a brother, a sister, and a granddaughter. He is survived by six children, nine grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and many in‐laws, extended family and friends.
Memorial donations may be made to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
on May 3, 2018