Manzi family matriarch dies

Caroline Delores Manzi, 86, died Tuesday at the Catskill Regional Medical Center in Harris N.Y. She was the mother of longtime Monticello Raceway publicist John Manzi and the aunt of Cat Manzi, Steve Manzi and Ed Lohmeyer.

Mrs. Manzi was born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Aug 27, 1919. She grew up in Brooklyn during the Great Depression, the only girl among her parents' seven children.

Nina, as her grandchildren all called her, married John J. Manzi at St. Michael’s Church on 41st Street in Brooklyn, N.Y., on Sept. 8, 1940; she was 22 years old. Eight months later her 24-year-old husband was drafted for military service. In 1941, for four months while John served in the European Theater, she had no word from him. She even visited the War Department, but could find out nothing. It was a happy ending, but not without great fear. To aid in the war effort and pass the time, she took a job at the Remington Arms Factory, in Bridgeport, Conn., making 30 caliber bullets for 2 1/2 years.

After her husband’s discharge the Manzi family moved to the Sullivan County Catskills, to Mongaup Valley, N.Y., which initially she found hard to deal with since she was a “ Brooklyn-girl.” But eventually she grew to love “the mountains” and settled into a life raising three sons.

Mrs. Manzi was a practical nurse who worked in the operating room, initially at the old Monticello Hospital and then at Community General Hospital (now Catskill Regional Medical Center) for close to 30 years.

She was a loving wife for 52 years, mother to three sons, John Manzi and his wife Sharon of Mongaup Valley; Gerard Manzi and his wife Joanne of Narrowsburg, N.Y.; and Gary Manzi and his wife Irva of Kingston, N.Y,; grandmother to eight; great-grandmother to three; Aunt Carrie to many nieces and nephews; a foster grandmother to countless local school children after spending nearly 20 years as a foster grandmother in the local school system.

To all, she was a role model for what a woman and family could be: hardworking, dedicated to loved ones, interested in helping those in need and aware that the simple things matter most. And for those she loved, she was there unconditionally.

Friends may call on Friday, June 2, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m.at Ramsay’s Funeral Home, 3534 Rte 55, Kauneonga Lake, N.Y.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at St. Peter’s Church in Monticello, N.Y., on Saturday, June 3, at 11 a.m. Burial will be the family plot in Evergreen Cemetery, Bethel, N.Y., beside her beloved husband, John J. Manzi.

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