from left: Carole, Ronald, Joseph Jr., Diane
seated- Joseph DeAngelis Sr
Fire Fighting Family
by Cate Murway
Firefighter/EMT Carole Marie DeAngelis Miller, BHS ’75 proudly owns a townhouse with a small patio in Sellersville, but it’s nothing like her family’s 427 Lafayette Street semi-detached frame home where she hung out on the porch with her friends as a kid.
Life was always full of fun. Gone are those days but she can still remember the welcome sound of the O'Boyle’s white ice cream truck delivering treats as it cruised down the block. The driver would hit the hanging bell with a hammer and the clang beckoned the kids playing kick the can in the middle of the street. “Peach was my favorite!”
Life never again tasted as good. “I had a great childhood.”
Her parents moved to the Borough from the Holmesburg area of Philadelphia. “Uncle” Ralph DiGuiseppe made all the cabinets and the DeAngelis family had “the best kitchen in Bristol”. They were fortunate enough to have a driveway and her dad even permitted her and her friends to soap up his car on mischief night, only after they promised to touch no one else’s cars.
Times are changing, but sometimes one just wants to keep them the same. “I miss the neighbors.”
Navy veteran Joseph Michael DeAngelis, Sr. recently celebrated his 88th birthday and received cards from everyone Carole contacted for his “card shower”.
Carole’s father is retired from the custodial staff at Rohm & Haas but he has always been active in efforts to improve the town. He worked as a Policeman and an elected Constable in the Bristol Borough Force during some of the most difficult times with the Mary O’Connor Mamon and the Carol Ann Dougherty murders, and he served as a Bristol Consolidated Volunteer firefighter. Joe currently maintains a membership with the Artisans Philly 1, a Fraternal Benefit Society, and the altruistic Masons. He always has been a good person with a commitment to do good for others.
Joe DeAngelis was a friend of Senator Joseph R. Grundy and one of the few who were permitted to hunt on the Grundy’s Walnut Grove Farm property in Bristol Township. “My dad couldn’t bring himself to shoot a deer but he enjoyed the company of hunting with his friends.”
Carole’s late mother, Bernice Margaret [Weed] was employed at the National Can Company, manufacturing soda cans. Bernice was active in politics and was a former judge of elections in the fifth ward polling station in the Borough, as well as a member of the American Legion Post 120 Ladies Auxiliary, and a founding member of Gibson Road Antique Fire Association. She believed in, and collected, angels and all things pertaining to angels.
They raised their four children in Bristol and Carole is their youngest. Her siblings are Diane Bernice Thackray, BHS ’66 and Coast Guard veterans Joseph Michael Jr., a Bishop Egan graduate, firefighter, instructor and EMT; and Deputy EMA Coordinator Ronald Phillip, BHS ’71, the Bristol Consolidated Volunteer Fire Company Fire Chief. Carole’s parents owned DeAngelis Auto Tags, a notary business in their home and they also ran the bingo concession at the Station 25 Firehouse for almost 20 years.
When St. Ann expanded the school and built the convent, Carole and her buddies roller skated with Sister Barbara and Sister Thomas in the basement.
Majorettes and cheerleading are one of the fondest of memories of Carole’s high school years.
In 1975, BHS became the first Lower Bucks County School to ever win a PIAA state championship. She was a cheerleader for the champion basketball team coached by the 6’1 James Marvin “Jim” Sottile, Sr., BHS ’49 who was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in April 2011.
“It was so much fun! The fan base was led by Kiki Rosado and we even had bongo drums.” Her dad loaned them his old windowless navy blue van and they decorated it and paraded through the streets.
Meritorious service is the trademark of the DeAngelis family. They are every day heroes and many of them are prepared for, and able to respond to all types of major emergencies.
Carole has worked for Emergency Health Services and served as the Middle Bucks Institute of Technology Health & Safety officer, and also as the contracted EMT for the Pennridge School District for 10 years. She was Girl Scout leader of Brownie troop #796 and a paraeducator for students with special needs and she even drove with an ambulance service.
As a dispatcher and the county's 911 education representative at the Bucks County Emergency Communications, she was recognized with a State Award from the Department of Health for Dispatcher of the Year. She unselfishly invested her energies in the programs that have been known as several names- Radio Room first, then Department of Communication and now, simply ‘911’.
Carole has 3 children. Miranda Lynne has given her four cherished grandchildren. Firefighter and paramedic, Gentilina Marie is named for Carole’s paternal grandmother Gentilina [Ciotti] who migrated with Brandino DeAngelis from the Italian Province of Ascoli Piceno. Her son, Robert Joseph is a trained volunteer fireman/EMT.
Now, newly retired, Carole has set out to warm up the world. She has begun crocheting again, something her mom had taught her how to do. “She even taught me to read a pattern.” Carole transforms spools of colorful yarn into soft knitted chemo caps and prayer blankets or lapghans and donates them to cancer patients and nursing home residents.
Saturday's child works hard for its living and while growing up in historic Bristol on the Delaware, there were always plenty of occupations from which to choose. Carole and her sister worked on the 7th floor of the Grundy Commons building for Marvin Hirschhorn in his National Tea Packing Company factory, packing boxes and making tea bags. “There were two sets of sisters, named Diane and Carol[e] working there at the same time.”
Her brothers worked at Pirolli's Fuel Station when gas was $.35 a gallon. She recalls a deli in the flatiron building on Pear and Lafayette Streets that had “the best crab cake sandwiches” and a rooming house in the back. She could buy cigarettes for her mother at only $.35 a pack.
Free time was cherished and truly enjoyed.
The canal always offered recreation. Her brothers easily caught little sunnies in the warm months. She and her friends ice skated on the frozen canal, at the Grundy Rink and at the nearby Silver Lake Park.
“The Grundy clock let us know when we needed to be home.”
They devoured hoagies from Mazzanti's Market and on Fridays, after football, everyone headed to Cesare’s Italian Specialties Ristorante for pizza.
Mill Street was the perfect place for shopping, “especially McCrory’s”. Her dad still wears the birthstone tie tack she bought for him at Premier Jewelry, owned by Stan Rosner, who was also co-chairman of the Borough parade committee. She purchased shoes at the Cancellation Shoe Store, where “Dominic fit them perfectly”. A 1962 Levittown Times advertisement offered “heels and flats at $1 a pair”.
Butchers, Nicky and Tommy Giantomasse owned a corner market. They “kept books on brown paper bags and my dad would pay the bill at the end of the week”.
With a pretty heavy dose of nostalgia, she remembers only good times and one of them was looking forward to the St. Ann Carnival every year. Times were simpler. “You could never do anything wrong. Everyone would report to our parents.”
Carole’s current home is great but “not the good old home town feeling that Bristol has.”
The place where no one locked their doors and everyone greeted you with a smile.
Everyone was so trusting and they cared! “That’s what I miss most.”
Recommend a “Spotlight”. E-mail vjmrun@yahoo.com
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from left: Joseph DeAngelis Jr., Carole,
Joseph DeAngelis Sr and Ronald DeAngelis
Easter 1956; Diane, Joe Jr., Ron
M/M DeAngelis 1970
BERNICE MARGARET (nee Weed), age 81, of Bensalem PA, on Nov. 7, 2010. Predeceased by siblings Joseph, Walter and Gerard Weed, Marie Nejman, and Patricia Baronowski. Wife of Joseph M. DeAngelis. Mother of Diane Thackray (John), Joseph DeAngelis (Kathy), Ronald DeAngelis (Rita) and Carole DeAngelis Miller (Robert). Also survived by 8 grandchildren; 5 great grand-children; brothers-in-law, Philip DeAngelis (Jane) and John DeAngelis (Helen); and sister-in-law, Nancy DeAngelis. Family and friends may call Fri., 6 to 9 P.M.,, and Sat., 9 to 10 A.M., at GALZERANO FUNERAL HOME, 3500 Bristol-Oxford Valley Rd., Levittown. Funeral Mass Sat., 10:30 A.M., St. Ephrem Church, Bensalem. Int. in Resurrection Cemetery. Donations to Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Eastern PA Chapter, 225 City Ave., Ste. 104, Bala Cynwyd PA 19004.
By Herb Drill, INQUIRER CORRESPONDENT
Posted: June 04, 1997
Anibal ``Kiki'' Rosado, 42, of Bristol Borough, a chemical company research assistant who was active in human relations, education and community sports, died Saturday at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He had been a 26-year employee of Rohm & Haas Co. in Bristol Township, where his laboratory work helped in the acquisition of two chemical patents, said his wife of 17 years, Millie Rivera Rosado.
Mr. Rosado was born in Orocovis, Puerto Rico. A graduate of Bristol High School, he had resided in the borough for more than 41 years. He was a member of the Governor's Advisory Commission on Latino Affairs and of the Bristol Human Relations Commission, and was a director of the Bucks County Latino Alliance, the Bristol Borough school board, the Bucks County Technical school board, the Bucks County Intermediate Unit and the county Drug & Alcohol Commission. He was the first Latino to be a director of a school board in Pennsylvania, his wife said.
Mr. Rosado was a baseball coach at Bristol High School and coached basketball for junior high school and the St. Mark's Catholic Youth Organization. He was involved in other community sports projects and had received the county coach of the year and Most Courageous Athlete awards in the 1990s.
Besides his wife, he is survived by children Michelle, Jennifer and Brian; his mother, Emilia Delgado; two brothers; and two sisters.
A funeral will be held at 9:30 a.m. today at Galzerano Funeral Home, 430 Radcliffe St., Bristol Borough. A Funeral Mass will be said at 11 a.m. at St. Mark's Roman Catholic Church, 1025 Radcliffe St. Burial will follow in St. Mark's Cemetery, Bristol Pike (Route 13) south of Rodgers Road, Bristol Township.
The family suggests contributions to the American Cancer Society, 43 S. Main St., Doylestown, Pa. 18901, or to the Latino Leadership Alliance, 229 Mill St., Bristol, Pa., 19007.
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Posted: Friday, March 4, 2016 10:02 pm
Joseph M. DeAngelis passed away peacefully in his sleep Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. He is now reunited with his loving wife of 64 years, Bernice M. (Weed) DeAngelis, who preceded him in death Nov. 8, 2010. He was 89.
Joe was the son of the late Brandino and Gentilina (Ciotti) De Angelis and was born Oct. 15, 1926, in Philadelphia.
Joe was an amazing person and was well loved and respected by many. He was a wonderful and loving husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather. Joe would always tell everyone that he was richer than any millionaire because he was blessed with the best family and friends in the world.
Joe served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. In 1951, he moved to Bristol, to begin work at Rohm & Haas, where he was employed for 40 years and was a member of the company Fire Brigade. Joe was a life member of the Bristol Consolidated Volunteer Fire Department and was a past president. He was also a member of the Bristol Auxiliary Police Force. Later, became a Bucks County Constable for 18 years and served as the first president of the Pennsylvania Constable Association in 1968. Joe also served as a committeeman of the Fifth Ward in Bristol and was active in politics.
Joe was a member of the St. John's Chapter of the Artisans and the Golden Artisans. He is a past Master Artisan and served on the Board of Directors and received a lifetime achievement award for his service.
He belonged to the American Legion Post 120 of Philadelphia, and was a former Post Commander. At age 84, he became a member of the Mason University Lodge of Philadelphia and received the 3rd degree. He was also a member the Moose Lodge.
While Joe and Bernie were busy working and raising their family, Joe always had a real love of firefighting. This led him to purchase the first of several antique fire trucks in 1987, which was a 1960 Maxim ladder truck. By then Joe was living in Bensalem and he had to have a pole barn built to house this first truck. In 1992, he and other enthusiasts founded the Gibson Road Antique Fire Association, where he served as president for 11 years. Joe also was a member of SPAAMFA, a national Antique Fire Association.
Joe was a devoted parishioner of St. Ephrem Church in Bensalem.
In addition to his wife and parents, Joe was preceded in death by his sister, Natalie Scott, and his brother, Brandino DeAngelis.
He is survived by his children, Diane Thackray and her husband, John, Joseph DeAngelis, Ronald DeAngelis and his wife, Rita, and Carole DeAngelis Miller. He is also survived by his grandchildren, Jim Brogel, John David Thackray and his wife, Jennifer, Kristen DeAngelis, Alexander DeAngelis and his wife, Amanda, Miranda James and her husband, Carlos, Gentilina Miller, Robert Miller, Brandin DeAngelis; great grandchildren, Katlyn, Natalina, Bryson, Aidan, Kendahl, Liam, Veyda, and Abbie; his brothers, Philip DeAngelis and his wife, Jane, John DeAngelis and his wife, Helen; and sisters-in-law, Nancy DeAngelis and Cora Weed.
The family would like to send a special thank you to all the caregivers from St. Mary's Hospital, Crestview Center, Visiting Angels, Veterans Administration Health Care System and to the staff of the Galzerano Funeral Home.
Relatives and friends are invited to call from 6 to 9 p.m. Friday, March 4, and from 8 to 9:15 a.m. Saturday, at Galzerano Funeral Home, 3500 Bristol-Oxford Valley Road, Levittown, PA 19057. His funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Saturday, at St. Ephrem Church, Bensalem, and burial will be in Resurrection Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggest donations be made to the Bristol Consolidated Volunteer Fire Department, PO Box 2125, Bristol, PA 19007.Galzerano Funeral Home,
Bristol ~ Levittown www.galzeranofuneralhome.com
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