Lifelong Staten Islander Harold LaTourette Sr., 88,
of Port Richmond Center, a World War II veteran and
retired Sanitation worker, died Monday in Staten
Island University Hospital, Ocean Breeze.
Born and reared in New Brighton, Mr. LaTourette
graduated from McKee High School. He moved to Elm
Park in 1955, before settling in Port Richmond
Center about 25 years ago.
A World War II veteran, he served in the Army from
1942 to 1945. Mr. LaTourette was assigned to the
82nd Airborne Division Paratroopers and stationed in
England when his division was called to make the
historical parachute jump into Normandy, France, on
D-Day, June 6, 1944. For the remainder of his
service, he was stationed in Holland, Belgium and
Germany.
Mr. LaTourette worked for the city Department of
Sanitation for 22 years, retiring in 1982. Before
joining the Sanitation Department, Mr. LaTourette
worked as a line and stack man at the former Proctor
and Gamble plant in Mariners Harbor, preceded by a
10-year stint with the former Wallerstein Co., where
Bosco chocolate syrup was produced.
Mr. LaTourette enjoyed spending
time with a hammer and nails, fixing up his house.
Mr. LaTourette was a 46-year member of Cichon Post
of the American Legion, Port Richmond.
He and his bride of nearly 54 years, the former
Julia Drzazga, were ballroom dancing enthusiasts and
were members of the Jolly Dance Club for 20 years.
They occasionally vacationed in Florida and the
Catskills, N.Y.
The couple met on a blind date in 1954. They married
a year later.
"He devoted his entire life to his children and his
wife," said his daughter, Nancy Fredericks. "He
loved watching his grandsons, Bryan, Kevin and
Douglas (D.C.), grow up."
In addition to his wife, Julia, daughter, Nancy and
three grandsons, surviving are two sons, Harold T.
Jr. and Douglas.
The funeral will be Friday from the Meislohn-Silvie
Funeral Home in Port Richmond with a mass at 10 a.m.
in St. Adalbert's R.C. Church, Elm Park. Burial will
follow in St. Peter's Cemetery, West Brighton.
(Staten Island Advance, Staten
Island, NY 12 Aug 2009, Page A12 - courtesy of Tedd
Cocker)
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