Emilio P. Passetto

03/20/2001

Emilio P. "Grap" Passetto, 78, of 9 Mountain View Terrace, Housatonic, died Tuesday at Fairview Hospital. Born in Lee on March 9, 1923, son of John and Emilia Scaramuzzi Passetto, he graduated from Lee High School in 1942. While in high school, he was an All-Western Massachusetts athlete in basketball and baseball. He was a World War II Army veteran, having served with the 291 Infantry Battalion in Rhineland, Central Europe and the Battle of the Bulge. He was discharged as a corporal on May 15, 1946. Mr. Passetto was employed in the receiving department for Mead Paper Co. for 32 years, retiring in 1985. He started the Housatonic Bantam and Biddy basketball league in 1948 and was active in coaching in the Bantam and Biddy basketball league at the Housatonic Community Center, girls softball and the Pioneers baseball team. He was a catcher and played semi-pro baseball for the Lee Sons of Italy and was a member of its state championship team in 1949. Mr. Passetto had played basketball and baseball for Homegas, and was a coach in Little League, Babe Ruth and the American Legion baseball in Great Barrington. He organized the Little League in Great Barrington in 1952. He also was a catcher for the Stockbridge Indians semi-pro baseball team. He was communicant and lecturer at All Saints' Church and a former member of the board of directors of the Housatonic Community Center. He was a five-year member of the Zoning Board of Appeals and a member of the Murphy Leary American Legion Post and the Adams Budz Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 8183. In 1972-73, he received a plaque from the Great Barrington Police Department for his efforts in the Biddy league. In 1979, he received a plaque from the Great Barrington Selectmen for recognition for his 30 years of commitment to youth sports in Great Barrington. He was an avid fund-raiser and was the top raffle ticket seller for the All Saints' Parish Picnic. He leaves his wife of 52 years, the former Virginia M. Siok, whom he married Aug. 21, 1948, in All Saints' Church; two sons, Jack Passetto of Great Barrington and Tony Passetto of Housatonic; a daughter, Marianne Avanzato of Pittsfield; a brother, Lui "Geno" Passetto of Lee, and nine grandchildren. Funeral services will be Friday, March 23, at 9 a.m. from HICKEY-ROY FUNERAL HOME, 33 South St., Great Barrington, to be followed by a Mass of Christian Burial in All Saints' Church at 10 a.m., with the Rev. Anthony Jutt, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in St. Bridget's Cemetery. Family will receive family and friends on Thursday from 3 to 7 p.m. Expressions of sympathy in his memory may be made to the All Saints Memorial Fund or to the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation in care of HICKEY-ROY FUNERAL HOME.

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