Eulogy for my Dad Art Castellani Good Morning. I am Bill Castellani. And I am the oldest son of Art Castellani. On behalf of our family and my Mother and my brothers and my sister and all and I would like to thank you for coming today to celebrate the life of my Dad, Arthur. I am here representing my Mother Dorena and also Ed and Robin. And Mark and Lisa. And Jeannie and Bill. And also my Aunt Rose. I also am representing our very wonderful pallbearers, who are the grandchildren: - Michael Castellani - Chris Castellani - Carson Castellani - Henry Castellani - Natalie Mothersell - Robert Mothersell - And Angela Mothersell. Thank you, to the pallbearers. When we set about to put the altogether, there were many, many decisions to be made. Such as the visitations, the Mass, the program… And one of the things which we had to decide was the hymns for today. It was noted that one of the hymns that my Dad liked was “How Great Thou Art.” But then as we thought about it, we gradually realized that the reason that he liked it was because his name was in it. (How great THOU ART!) For those of you who have been to our family home on Fieldcrest, there is one thing you would know as you entered the front door; routine was the order of the day. Mom is always there puttering around the house doing chores and managing the day to day activities of running the house. The phone is usually ringing. And you could be sure that my Dad would be sitting in his chair at the kitchen table, facing the TV, drinking his coffee and reading the Lansing State Journal. Now my Dad didn’t just read the newspaper; he read each and every word of each section. Even later when his eyesight failed him, he would use his favorite magnifying glass to help him make out the words. First, of course, he would read the sports section, for as I’m sure most of you here know, Art was a lover of all sports. He would read all the scores and articles, in particular paying close attention the sporting events of his grandchildren on the golf course, basketball court and tennis court. And then as part of his routine, even in his final days, he would complete the crossword puzzle and word games, and he would finish them, or save the newspaper so that he could check the next day’s paper to see what he had missed in the puzzles. My Dad was born in Sant’ Ippolito Italy in 1923 to Sam and Teresa Castellani. He was the second son born to them following his brother Frank. He emigrated with his parents and older brother Frank, to the United States in April of 1924 at the age of 7 months. The family arrived in the US through the port of Ellis Island in New York, one of the last boats to welcome new immigrants to the US. His name can be found on the panels on Ellis Island listing those who ventured to America. The fact that his name can be found there gave him great pride. The family settled in Lansing and soon welcomed two other children, brother Rudy and sister Rose. Life in their new country wasn’t always easy. Money was scarce and jobs were hard to obtain. Dad tried out for the Eastern High School baseball team. And he worried because he did not have the correct baseball cleats. He was afraid that the baseball coach at Eastern High school would disregard him because he didn’t have the right shoes for playing baseball. So at one point, the coach noticed my Dad at baseball practice as a freshman and called him over to talk to him. My Dad was concerned that the coach was going to send him home because of his shoes. But to his surprise the coach noticed his baseball talents and made my Dad his starting centerfielder. And that was a position he held through his senior year, the entire 4 years. Later, after high school, he played in the Lansing City Softball Leagues earning “All League” honors. Following High School my Dad joined the US army where he traveled to Europe and spent time in France, Germany and Austria and worked as a medic in the military hospitals. He was proud to play his part while contributing to the success of the war. He never glorified the war but he was proud to have played his part. The war ended in 1945 and he returned to the US. So in 1947 he was re-established and at one point he went to a dance at the Italian American Club. There he saw a girl whom he had seen on her family’s grocery store. He saw her there, the former Dorena Fata and he asked her to dance. And the rest …. is history. They would have been married for 68 years in February. His Father, Sam, was a tailor, and had shop down the street from near the Fata family grocery on Shiawassee Street. My Dad had many different jobs during his lifetime including working at Oldsmobile, and owned the Ko Ko Bar and Kwik Stop Party Store in East Lansing for many years. Later he joined the team at the Fata warehouse filling orders in the cheese room, which was later jokingly named “Art’s room.” In addition to his family, a source of pride for him was his Italian heritage. He loved being Italian. It was a big part of his identity. He loved the Italian food that Dorena made; mostaciolli was his pasta of choice. He absolutely had to have that one pasta shape so it that is the pasta shape that we had in our house! One of his greatest memories was in 1983 when we went to celebrate his 60th birthday, when the entire family traveled to Italy. During our visit we were privileged to go to south Calabria to visit our ancestral village of St. Ippolito. We saw the house where Dad was born, we got a chance to visit with distant relatives and go to visit the church where my father was baptized. We cherish the memory of that trip. While on that trip we spent many evenings toasting a glass of vino rosso or an Amaretto. My Dad was an avid baseball fan and he passed his love of the game on to his all of his children. When my Dad was growing up he admired the stars of the old New York Yankees teams. And why you might ask was he a fan of the New TYork Yankees? Well at the time, Italians were not prominent in many fields like they are today. So the Yankees were one of the first places that had Italians so that was of huge importance. Of course, my Dad did not desert tht Tigers, still watching ching each and every and always ready to talk about the game. Strong opinions voiced with authority would be heard from Art’s place on the sofa. Why the coaches, umpires and players refused to listen is a mystery! My Dad was also a fan of MSU sports and enjoyed watching the Spartans play basketball and football throughout the year. He also faithfully was a fan of the Detroit Lions. Although I am not so sure that they brought him much joy. Art loved to golf and bowl. He spent many afternoons playing golf with his buddies or family at Waverly Hills Golf Course. He enjoyed his annual trips to Florida with friends to play golf for an entire week. Thursday nights were always his bowling league nights and he enjoyed the game as much as he enjoyed the camaraderie. And I see the a number of the guys here today and so I want to recognize you guys and thank you for being here. My Dad was an excellent bowler and maintained a 180 average well in to his 70s. Later when he was no longer able to bowl, he still liked going to the bowling alleys at Royal Scot or the Pro Bowl to watch his friends bowl and socialize with them. Those bowling leagues and the guys he bowled with were very important to him and he cherished those friends. My Dad above all else loved his family and his friends, and he would be grateful and pleased to see you all here today. On behalf of my Mom and our whole family I would like to thank you again for attending to help celebrate the life of my Dad As I conclude, I would like to leave you with 3 quotes. Two of them you would recognize as being from my Dad. The first is: my Dad would say” “Take your time going, but hurry back!” And he would also say: “I’m glad you got to see me!” And so finally we respond to him with this refrain: “How great thou: ART!”
Posted on: Fri, 16 Jan 2015 06:41:30 +0000
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