Rocco Joseph Varca

Born March 11, 1922, at his parent’s home in Queens, NY, one of nine children, passed away peacefully on February 10, 2023. He was a beautiful example of a man who put love of God and family first. He was blessed to have lived a long life (just shy of 101 years) full of love with his wife Regina (O’Neill) (d. 2/13/2012), his daughters: Gina Siraco (d. 5/4/2012), Cathy Prisco, Sharon Dudash, Ann Marie Byers, Laura Jean Varca (d. 07/28/1963) and Christine Mann, their spouses, 11 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren, 1 great-great-granddaughter, his nieces and nephews, cousins and in-laws all of whom he kept many photos and fond memories.

He was a World War II, Navy veteran of the airships/blimps that patrolled the coast of Africa and France from 1942-1946.

After the long-awaited D-Day invasion, it was an all-out effort to beat Nazi Germany into submission, and France was to be the point of spear. No sooner had a beach head been gained in Normandy, then the next objective was the rest of the country. It was the job of a young Navy airship crewman to assist in the reconning German danger zones in the South of France, to locate and target potential dangers to invading forces like mines and other defenses. His name was Rocco “Rocky” Varca. In August of 1944, Rocky’s airship sweeps began in earnest. It was his job as a radioman and gunnery to patrol the entire coastline of the French Rivera and the Straits of Gibraltar, hunting for submarines, potential hazards like mines. And being on the ready to rescue downed airmen. During his time there he befriended members of the French Resistance. He also escorted Pres. Roosevelt to a summit with Churchill and Stalin in Yalta. In April 1945, he was ordered back to the U.S. to prepare for the potential invasion of Japan on what would have been a near suicidal mission – he was already underway to the Pacific when Japan surrendered. He was discharged in January 1946. He became a Chevalier, or Knight, of the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur, or Legion of Honor from France on June 5, 2015.

(Link to Rocky’s full Navy story: https://issuu.com/veteranvoice/docs/veteran_6-11-2015)

The Navy trained him in radio school to learn radar, sonar and other types of communications so he used the G.I. Bill to finish his education achieving his associate degree as an Electronics Technician. He was a lifelong learner and took many online courses from MIT and was always looking to learn something new. The family would brag that he was the rare person in his age group that kept up with technology - posting on Facebook and using his Portal to call family members. Amazing to think that he grew up with horse buggies and model Ts to being awed when a man first walked on the moon and to know that same technology is in everyone’s pocket in their phone!

He worked as an Electronics Technician in Research and Development of the early radio and radar technologies with the engineers at AIL Cutler Hammer (now Eaton Corporation). Our basement was always filled with his projects. He taught me about transistor radios and TVs as well as how to weld and wire a phone extension for my bedroom. He retired in 1985 after 30 years.

He loved gardening and our house in NY always had beautiful landscaping and vegetable garden. He was an early adopter of composting and organic gardening before that was even a thing. He was always finding ways to reuse items instead of throwing them away – we thought he was being frugal when he saved every little thing that we would later find he had used to make a repair with duct tape and an old wire hangar. Who would have known he was just ahead of his time in recycling and reusing tips that are currently showing up on Tik Tok!

He and his wife Regina enjoyed time with his immediate family that all moved from NY to South Florida. They volunteered at the Mets Stadium, and he was proud of his signed baseball from Darryl Strawberry. They were very active in the catholic church and charitable organizations. He achieved 4th degree from the Knights of Columbus. He encouraged his family to become active members in their community.

A gathering of family and friends will be held on Friday, February 17, 2023 from 5:00pm - 9:00pm at Aycock Funeral Home 1504 SE Floresta Drive, Port St Lucie Florida 34983. A funeral mass will be held on Saturday, February 18, 2023 at 9:30am at St Lucie Catholic Church 425 SW Irving Street Port St Lucie, FL 34983. A link to the livestream of the funeral mass can be viewed using this web address:

https://www.stlucie.cc/live-stream

Graveside services will be held 11:30 a.m. Friday, May 19th, at Long Island National Cemetery, 2040 Wellwood Avenue, Farmingdale, NY 11735.

In lieu of cut flowers, please consider planting a flowering tree/bush or donating to: Knights of Columbus, Veterans Relief Services, St. Jude, or the National World War II Museum in New Orleans.

Thank you for all of your love and support.