My love this is probably the last time I can write a message in the book. So I want to tell you once again that you're my everything . We had a wonderful life together and you have left us all wonderful memories. We never wanted for anything you gave us a wonderful life. Because of that you're missed so very much. You are loved more than you can imagine. You were always worried that we wouldn't know how much you loved us all, believe me we know how much , you spent a life time showing us. You were my first and only true love and my only love. I hope you know how much I love you and miss you. Till we meet again my love RIP. Always ❤❤❤❤

Christmas is over, thank god. We tried to make it normal, but it wasn't quite the same without you. No big fish dinner on Christmas eve.  We went out to eat,like you said we should ,never again.   We all miss you very much.  Nothing is the same without you and it will never be. Thank you for all the wonder memories you gave us, that's what  keeps us going. I love you and miss you  my love. Happy New Year. ????????????????????????

It's 8 months since you're gone and I miss you more than ever. Please help me through this. You are  the light of my life, it seems  like forever since I last saw you, held and kissed  you. I 'll,lover you forever.

Well it's  6 months and the hole in my heart is just getting bigger. Everyone says it will get better. Maybe for them, but not for me. I miss and love you more each day. I never realized how much you did for me.  My world is turned upside down, I don't know how to fix it. Please. Help me. I love you more today than ever before..

Gramps, 
You were and are still a huge part in making me the person I am today. There is not a day where I don't think about you. You are one of a kind and I am blessed to have you as my grandpa. We did so good at nationals this year Gramps. I know you were with me, I never thought that we would win that game against Texas, but I felt you there. I wish we could have won it all for you. I love you and I miss you.

When you are young and fall in love you think this is so nice. When you get married its wonderful.When you have children your love sort of changes, you still love one another but you are sharing it with your children. After your children are grown, you still love them but then you find a different love. Almost like love is better the second time around. You realize you are not two people, you are one. You answer one another's questions, you laugh at the same stupid things, one cries and so does the other. You know what the other one is thinking.  It's a whole different, deeper love. Then when one is sick and you can't do anything to help them, you feel your heart breaking. When you lose them you feel like your world is going to end, then someone says "oh you were his wife"?  No, I am his wife and will always be his wife. He was my first true love and...my only love. I will love you forever. I promise. Happy Anniversary honey. We may not be together but you are always in my thoughts and in my heart.  Thank you for our wonderful daughters and all the wonderful memories you have given me. They are what keeps me going. I miss and love you more each day.

There are some who bring a light so great to the world that after they have Gone,the light remains and grows brighter everyday. Miss you and  love you more each day. My life is not the same without you........

Happy birthday to my wonderful husband. I love you &  miss you more than you can imagine. Xoxo

I have to admit that I was stalking through People I know on Facebook. Stalking is what my Girlfriend and I refer to as when we're being nosy and look through other Peoples' page. I was looking through Shari Silvergleid Brosnan and happened to notice Kim and Suzanne as Friends of Sharis'. I then came to the realization that Butchie had passed. I remember Him many years before the Lomazzos picked up and left for Arizona. I still remember the address 25-26 73rd Street, Down the block from the Lexington School for the Deaf. Anyway probably 25 years ago Butch gave me a heart attack because He was actually having one in front of me. I did what I could for Him. Pat called the ambulance and I wished Him well, I then left the house and just lost it. He' s a magnificent Guy who always had the up most respect for me as I for Him. That day of this particular incident really made understand how i felt for Him and and  how badly I felt when they left for Arizona. I called the house in Arizona maybe four or five years ago and got to speak to Him. I'm truly sorry I won't be able to again. See you upstairs Butch. Rest well my Friend and I do forgive you for getting into a fight with Jerry Koosman

To the love of my life. We had a wonderful life,wonderful daughters , grandchildren. We will all miss you very much . It  has only been a short time and I can't imagine my life with out you . I love now as much as I did 57 years ago. I'll ALWAYS love you. Me

People always say your parents are lucky to have such great daughters, well it was us who have lucky to have such great parents. Mostly because my Dad made it possible for my mom to stay home and make us who we are today. Thank you Dad for always making it possible for us to have everything we ever needed or wanted. I always say we may have been spoiled but we weren't spoiled brats! Our family will never quite be the same again because we are missing one very important piece, you Dad. I love you and miss you, now and forever. I will always remember, I promise....

My first true love, my dad. I will love and miss you every minute of every day from now until we meet again.

Butch was one of a kind.  He lived life to the fullest.  He was all about family and he invited so many of us to be part of his family.  I will miss him.  My heart goes out to his entire family as I know how much they will all miss him too.

First on behalf of me, my mom and my sisters I would like to say thank you.  The outpouring of love and support from our family and friends has been amazing and is so greatly appreciated by all of us.
Over the past few days I've been thinking a lot about what I wanted to say.  How could I do this justice?  Would I say the right things?  How could I ever say enough to make everyone know how much we love and respect our Dad?  And then it occurred to me, I really wouldn't have to say much because the presence of all of you here today is the true testament of his legacy.  But my Dad also knows that me, being me, I could never just say nothing…so please bear with me as I try to get this right.
I'd like to start with some of the interesting and very important things my dad taught us.
He taught us how to dance – the Lindy Hop, the Stroll, the Cha-Cha.  He loved to dance with us and us with him.  He was the best dance partner any of us has ever had and it's something we all love to do.  He taught us how to splits eights and aces, when to double down, when to hit on 16 and when to stay; he taught us how to sink an 8 ball in a corner pocket and bet a trifecta at the racetrack.  He taught us that in order to properly break in a baseball glove you don't need anything fancy… just some lanolin, a baseball and a mattress.  He taught us that a physical altercation is sometimes unavoidable and necessary when making a point.  A lesson Suzanne seems to have taken a little too seriously.   He taught us the importance of being prompt and he taught us that lesson by sitting in the car beeping the horn 30 minutes prior to any departure time, a lesson Suzanne has continued to ignore.  He taught us how to tie a man's tie, how to iron a dress shirt properly and he taught us you can never ever be overdressed or smell too good.  No offense to my Mom, she's pretty well-dressed, but Dad has what his grandkids like to call “mad swag”.  I mean, the man asked to be buried in his tuxedo… need I say more.
He taught us that girls can NEVER know too much about sports.  My sisters and I probably know more about sports than any average guy.  Football, baseball, basketball, hockey, golf, tennis, poker, bocce, billiards, curling, shuffleboard, bowling…you name it, we know it.  My dad was a sports junkie and there wasn't a sport he wasn't good at.  So if you didn't know anything about sports, your conversation with my Dad might be “shall we say” limited.  My dad might be one of the only men I know who could watch the 1996 World Series or the Ali/Frazier “Thrilla in Manila” on ESPN Sports Classics like it was happening in real time.   And yes, poker is a sport.
A lot of people probably don't know this but my dad sacrificed a promising baseball career to help support his family.  When he was a teenager he attended tryouts for a major league baseball club and was asked back for final tryouts.  He was also scheduled to start a new job at a factory on the same day.  His Dad had been hurt and couldn't work which made it financially difficult on his mother and two sisters.  So my Dad abandoned his tryout, went to work and never told anyone in his family until my Grandmother found out from his friends.  She was not too happy with him, but proud nonetheless.  But that's just who he was.
Growing up, we didn't see much of my Dad, but not because he wasn't involved, but rather because he was always working.  He worked full-time nights for the City of New York as well as two other jobs so my Mom could stay home.  And while we didn't see much of him, we did see all he was doing for us.  We always had the best of everything.  We weren't rich by any means, but he always found a way to make us feel as if we were.  And our riches extended to far more than the material, though we had our fair share of that too.  His biggest concern was always taking care of his girls.
And the time we did get to spend with him, was always fun.  He used to let us stay up and watch Saturday Night Live with him well before the age when we probably should have been watching.  Our Fourth of July BBQs, Thanksgivings, Christmas Eve dinners, New Year's Parties were all legendary.  We have so many stories to tell and so many memories. 
Our 4th of July BBQs were always a celebration of my parents' wedding anniversary.  They were married on July 4, 1959.  They would have celebrated their 55th anniversary this year.  Unheard of in today's society.  Their relationship is a marvel and anyone who has spent any time with Pat and Butch know…it wasn't easy…they loved to bicker…about everything…driving directions, what they were going to eat, where they were going to eat, why the TV was so loud, why my Mom talked so much, etc.  They were hilarious.  Once when we were pretty young, my Mom and Dad had a serious fight and my Mom “left” my Dad (which basically turned out to be a three-hour drive she took to the Hamptons in a stick shift Fiat). My Dad's reaction to my mom “leaving” was “where do you girls want to go for dinner?” and he took us to the diner.  They loved hard, they laughed hard, they cried hard and they lasted.  Up until this past holiday season when my Dad was ill, they hadn't been apart on a holiday for 55 years.  Amazing.
My Dad wasn't perfect.  He had his fair share of troubles and led a pretty interesting life.  He hung out with some “questionable” characters, got in a bit of trouble from time to time, loved to gamble, and went out most Friday nights with someone named “Sally” who my sisters and I thought was our dad's girlfriend, but we never said a word.  It wasn't until we were older that we finally figured out it was just his buddy named Salvatore or “Sally” for short.  My mom and dad both knew what we thought but figured it was funny to torture us.  We should have known because he loved my Mom more than anything, and my Mom would have killed him.
There were a few things my Dad loved almost as much as he loved us …he loved golfing, he loved gambling, he loved being in the sun, he loved gambling and he loved gambling.  He retired at 50 and moved to Arizona shortly afterward.  Since then he has always had a tan.  If the sun was shining (and it always is), you could either find him on the golf course, at the casino, or lying by or floating in the pool. December or June, he only had two colors – dark and darker.
His interesting life became even more interesting as he became a grandfather.  And he was an awesome grandfather.  Nothing brought him greater joy than those kids and all of their accomplishments.  It's only this past year due to illness that he's missed any activity.  I believe he has endured every soccer, volleyball and flag football game ever played.  He's been to countless dance recitals (sometimes the same one twice in a day), band concerts, choir concerts, graduations, honor society inductions, sports banquets, etc.  My parents' biggest challenge of late would occur when the boys were playing soccer at one end of the valley and Taylor was playing volleyball at the other end of the valley on the same day …what would they do?  They'd go to both.  They were tireless.
And, of course, he entertained his grandchildren with stories of his misspent youth and they found it fascinating.  Our kids have always believed their grandfather was a gangster.  They loved asking him if ever “whacked” anyone and begged him to tell them stories of the old days and all his old fights and stories.  I remember Zack was once talking to my Dad about a kid in school who was making him angry and Grandpa's serious advice was “you know once someone made me angry, so me and some of my buddies went and put some sugar in his gas tank, problem solved.”  Really, Dad?  This is the advice you give your 16-year old grandson?
So he wasn't perfect, but he was perfect for us…and larger than life.
My Dad was once asked by one of his buddies about having three girls.  He wanted to know if he was disappointed because he'd never had a son since he was the last male “LoMazzo” and he had no one to carry on his name.  My dad's response (which surprisingly was NOT accompanied by a smack down) was “I have the three best children anyone could ask for. They've never given me a minute worth of heartache or trouble…the way I see it, I'm pretty lucky to have those girls.”
But, as I've been prone to do, I'd have to disagree with my Dad.  WE are the lucky ones.  Lucky to have the father we did.  He spent his entire life worrying about his family, providing for them, making sure they had everything they needed. Even over the last few months, when he was so ill, his biggest concern was US.  He was concerned he was being a burden, worried he was ruining our lives, taking us away from our families and worried he was hurting my mother.  He was lying in a bed enduring some of the worst pain conceivable and his biggest concern was how it was affecting all of us.
So I guess the most important thing my Dad ever taught us is something much more tangible than blackjack or a love of sports.  It was something that can't really be taught, but must rather be learned.  It's a lesson about family, loyalty and love.
We have a very close knit family, which is such a blessing.  My parents have always taught me and my sisters that nothing or no one should ever come between us and it's a rule we live by.  It's a testament to them how many people are amazed by our closeness.  We have a bond that is unbreakable and everyone knows it.  And it's largely because of him.
Growing up, my sisters and I believed our Dad was invincible.  He was the first man who ever really loved us, our first (and best) Valentine, our first dance, and the man who always respected women, especially our mother whom he loved unconditionally.  His relationship with her showed us what we should come to expect in any relationship.
There's an old saying…“they don't make them like they used to” and it's usually used for old movie stars or old cars or something vintage.  But for some reason it always reminds me of my Dad.  That legacy was never more obvious then on Friday when he passed away.  He was surrounded by those he loved the most.  On Thursday, we were all sitting in a room staring quietly and waiting.  Friday (which happens to be his favorite day of the week) those same people were there, we were talking and chuckling and reminiscing.  And I truly believe he was really waiting for us.  He was waiting for us to get back to being us…his crazy, talkative, nutty family.  He was waiting to make sure we would be alright without him and when he was sure, and in the words of my cousin, Anthony, he quietly slipped out the back door. Some of us took our eyes off him for one minute and he was gone.
So rather than invincibility, we were faced with the inevitability, and it's been hard.  I know I speak for many people when I say I will miss my Dad. I'll miss him more than any of my 2,178 words could ever say.  I am, however, greatly comforted knowing he was met by a large contingency of loved ones who have gone before…his mom and dad, his sister Phyllis, my maternal grandparents (who loved him like their own), my Aunt Joanie (who drove him crazy, but whom he loved and who left us far too young), my uncles Wimpy & Gigi (and no, that's not their given names) and countless other friends and family who welcomed him with open arms.  I know they are having one heck of a party.  My Dad is finally free of illness and pain and I hope to God his tan is back, he's already played 18 holes and somewhere up there he's hit a jackpot.  And while I may not know all of that, I do know beyond a doubt, he's still taking care of all of us.
In our family, we never say goodbye…we always say “so long”.  So…so long Dad, I know we'll see you again someday and I know you'll be waiting to hold my hand and like always you'll be dressed to the nines, you'll smell great and you'll have a killer tan.  But until then, I hope you know how much we love you and how very much we miss you already.  And thank you.

May God's love strengthen all of you in this time.

We were so sorry to hear of your loss . . . our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family.

Our deepest sympathies go out to you and your family. Losing someone is never easy but you can take comfort in the fact that Anthony can and will continue to live on in your hearts & minds. Please don't hesitate to let us know if there is anything we can do.

We're thinking of you all and sending love and prayers.
Ilene and John Brennan

We are very sorry for your loss, I know your dad will be greatly missed. This is not an easy time for you and your family stay strong. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Love you guys

My prayers are with you all.....I know what you're going through. Gain strength from all your wonderful memories.  What a lovely man...
Love, Linda (Brooklyn, New York)

May you rest in eternal peace. You were a wonderful man and you will be missed.

Butch was a good friend to me but mostly I will always consider him my family as that he how he always made me feel,,I will miss him greatly,,my prayers go out to his wonderful family,,

Our thoughts and prayers are with your family. I've had the pleasure I meeting you a couple times, but I feel like I've known you through the great stories and admiration told by Kim. You've touched more lives then you'll ever know. Peace be with you and your loving family.

OBITUARY

Anthony LoMazzo

April 30, 1938 – February 21, 2014

Phoenix Memorial Park & Mortuary

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