This date marks the passing of one of the greatest men I have ever known, my father, Anthony Salvatore DeLapi. His life was full of hardship and tragedy, but he would never let you see how deeply he was hurt. He was a devoted and loving father, husband, and Grandpa that will be terribly missed. I find comfort knowing that he is finally at peace and will not suffer any more. I love you dad, and miss you more than I could ever express in words. I feel your presence with me and I know that even in death, you are still with us.
This is my dad and biological mother, Carmen who passed away when I was 11.
Here is dad with grandma (also passed) in 81.
Dad and Denae
This is out first official family photo, taken in 1996
Waiting to fly non-rev on American for our family vacation to the Bahamas.
Mom and Dad at my College graduation
In 1997, about one month before I married Kevin, Shawn, my oldest sister whom we had never met, contacted Dad. Getting to finally meet her and her beautiful family was one of dad's happiest moments. I am so glad that she is in out lives and that they were able to be reunited before he passed.
October 8th, 2001 is the day that Dad was taken from us to go home. I was blessed to be able to spend the day before with him. He was doing great and playing with Austin, and we had a wonderful last day together. The next day, with no warning whatsoever, he had a seizure and heart failure. My father hated funerals and memorials, so we memorialized his passing by doing what he wanted. We traveled to new York and had a party in his honor at one of his favorite resturaunts in Brooklyn. He wanted his ashes to be scattered off of the Varrazanno bridge in Brooklyn, but due to the September 11th tragedy, security was tight to say the least. Instead, Tommy graciously offered his boat and services to take us directly under the bridge. It was a beautiful moment that he would have been pleased with. I had taken several photographs, but my camera mysteriously ate only those photos. The ones before them and after them on the roll were fine. My guess is that Dad didn't want any pictures of that. Instead, we have several pictures of the 3 days we spent in new York.
Shawn, me and Denae at Aunt Marie's home
The following pictures need a little explaining :) Denae decided to have a clam for Dad while we were there. Getting into Manhattan was next to impossible, so we stayed on the island and had a tribute clam fest for Dad. These are the before and after pictures of Denae enjoying her clams!
Aunt Marie, Uncle Ray, Uncle Nicky and Aunt Rosalie on the ferry to Manhattan. We went to Ground zero, less than one month after the attacks. The devastation was beyond description, and the ground was still smoking. As hard as it was to see, I am glad I went....it really put things in perspective and made me so grateful to live here and to have such a wonderful family.
Here are all the kids at Dad's tribute dinner.From left to right: Guy, Celeste, Deanna, Nicky, Roxanne, Renee, Gen , Shawn, Denae. Vincent is missing from the photo.
Aunt Rosalie (or Beggels and Eggels and dad used to refer to her:), Uncle Nicky and me enjoying the reminiscing about dad.
Aunt Roseanne and Aunt Marie toasting Grandma and her trademark theft item....sweet and low
And Mom and Aunt Marie toasting dad together.
A million times we have needed you
A million times we have cried
If I alone could have saved you
You never would have died
In life we loved you dearly
In death we love you still
For in our hearts you hold a place no one could ever fill.
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you did not go alone
For a part of us went with you
The day God took you home
Author Unknown
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