JOSEPH FRANK MARCANTONIO
JOSEPH F MARCANTONIO
8W/99
REMEMBRANCES
Rest in Peace
Lucky to have had such a Friend
13th Street Friend Remembers Joey
I first met Joey around the summer of 1961 when I was almost 10 years old. He was visiting his aunt & uncle on 13th Street in West Greenwich Village, NY...the block I grew up on. 13th Street was what was called a "kid block" back then. When a bunch of us kids on the block first saw Joey he was calling up to the window to his Aunt Lea and with us being wise city kids we were mimicking him…we thought we were being funny, but we weren't laughing for long...Joey got pretty steamed and was ready to take us all on. We wound up right then and there loving the guy - and we all became very good friends from that day on. He was one of the nicest kids we ever knew. My family of seven had an especially deep affection for Joey; he often went places with us in our family station wagon. Over the next 7- 8 years Joey became an integral part of our crowd on 13th street...it was always the best of times when Joey was visiting our block. I hope he knew how special he was to us and how much he was loved. The last time I seen Joey was the summer of 1968, my family moved to Florida that fall. We moved back to NY in the late fall of 1970 when we learned of the sad news...that Joey had died in Vietnam just a few months earlier. We did not want to believe it...we were heartbroken. Joey made a huge impact on the lives of so many during his short stay here on earth...he touched many hearts and will never be forgotten.