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Aspecial blessing came last month for Joseph and Marion Scaramuzzo, as they celebrated their 75th wedding anniversary. They were married Saturday, Feb. 13, 1943—Valentine’s Day weekend—at the chapel at Fort McClellan in Alabama, while Scaramuzzo was serving in the U.S. Army.
Mr. and Mrs. Scaramuzzo are members of St. Charles parish in the Oakwood section of Staten Island. They’ve been attending ArchCare’s Senior Life PACE program since 2015, and so they included their ArchCare friends in their diamond anniversary celebration. On Feb. 21, they renewed their wedding vows in the PACE program section of the ArchCare Carmel Richmond Nursing Home on Old Town Road on Staten Island.
“They have a great love for each other, and for their family,” said Sister Mary Anne Dennehy, O.Carm., parish outreach representative at Senior Life PACE. “And they’re very socially active; they’re very happy (as outpatients) that they’re able to stay home. It was beautiful—a beautiful 75th wedding anniversary Mass.”
The couple’s pastor, Father Louis Jerome, performed the vow-renewal ceremony. Father Percy Joseph concelebrated; he is a weekend associate at Holy Child parish on Staten Island. Scaramuzzo, 96, worked several jobs, including as a driver for a van service, an X-ray aide and transporter at Staten Island University Hospital, and he worked for an electronics business. Mrs. Scaramuzzo, 95, worked as a hairdresser.
Scaramuzzo likes to play the trumpet with a group of musicians at ArchCare, and he likes to play cards. Mrs. Scaramuzzo likes singing and dancing, and they both like to socialize. They often visit the ArchCare Alternate Care Site, also on Staten Island, a social day center, on St. Marks Place.
Both are lifelong residents of Staten Island, where they met during a high school graduation party of a cousin of Mrs. Scaramuzzo’s.
They have three sons, seven grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren. One of their sons, Douglas Scaramuzzo, spoke to CNY on behalf of his parents.
“It went very nicely,” Douglas said of the Feb. 21 vows-renewal ceremony, noting that the family also celebrated at Gennaro’s restaurant on Staten Island, on Feb. 11.
The vow-renewal ceremony “was a nice addition to the celebration that we had earlier,” Douglas said. “My mom loved cooking and having family around. We were always celebrating the holidays.”
Douglas noted his parents understood the importance of family, prayer and their Catholic faith—and they passed that on to their children, who passed it on to their children. He said their mutual love and respect have played integral roles in the longevity of their marriage.
