Angel Emilio Cortes

Angel Emilio Cortes, age 77 of Wayne passed peacefully at home on Monday, May 20, 2019. He was lovingly known by everyone as either “G-Pops,” “Millo,” and “Daddy.”

Millo was born in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico to Pedro and Concepcion Cortes. Angel came to the United States when he was nineteen years old settling in Brooklyn New York with his Uncle Antonio and Aunt Chana.

Millo met a beautiful young woman named Carmen Santiago through family and they soon fell deeply in love. While on the swings at the Huston Playground on Powell Street in Brooklyn, Angel leaned over and asked Carmen to marry him.  They married on June 8, 1963 at Our Lady of Loreto Church in Brooklyn and celebrated their honeymoon under the boardwalk in Coney Island.  As a newly married couple, they settled into a home on Riverdale Avenue in Brooklyn where they lived for one year before moving to East 22nd Street in Paterson, New Jersey. The two shared a loving marriage of twenty-six years and was blessed with three beautiful daughters before they separated. Although they were no longer married, Carmen and Millo still had an undying love and respect for one another.  Carmen later remarried, and her new husband Diego Gomez cared for Angel like a brother; he was just an easy guy to love.

Angel had two main jobs in his life.  His first job was working for LaFavorita Company in Hawthorne where he would clean the diesel tanks on firetrucks, and later for an engineering company in Linden where he would do inspections on storage tanks.

G-Pops was everyone’s grandfather and loved it when you brought him any kind of cookies or sweets. He would hide any sweets from his family as he was diabetic and not supposed to have them. If you were going out, he would ask you to get him a chocolate milkshake.  If you forgot you would feel the wrath of G-Pop and quickly learn not to forget that milkshake next time. He loved to talk for hours on end and had an unbelievable recollection of how to get just about anywhere.  Although his over twenty-year battle with Parkinson’s disease stopped him from driving, he could still give you turn by turn directions.  He always remembered everyone’s birthday and had to sing Happy Birthday to them. Once he was done singing you could count on him to have an emotional cry…every time! Millo loved to dance, especially when all of his favorite girls surrounded him and cheered him on.  The family has many fond memories of him at Christmas while all were wearing matching pajamas and unwrapping presents under the tree.

Angel was old school and very conservative when it came to his care during his autumn years. He was always in touch with his pride and dignity which was lovingly attended to by his daughter Kathy and son-in-law David.  Whether it was pills to be taken, food to eat, or helping him in the bathroom or to bed, only Kathy could help him. He was brutally honest, and Kathy soon learned how to handle him.  When it came to food he didn’t like (Chinese food), she would convince him it was some other kind of food. When it came to pizza bites, he only wanted the gourmet ones from the pizzeria, so Kathy would trick him and put them in a fancy box. He was always fashion conscious and loved nice shoes, hats, and shirts. For many years he loved having his Budweiser beer and cigarettes.  When he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease he stopped both cold turkey.  In addition to food, Millo’s other passions were baseball, reading and watching the nature shows on the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet and on Sundays you would catch him watching his favorite show, Naked and Afraid.

Angel was the loving father of Kathleen Cortes Trinidad, Susan Cortes and Debbie Ann Evelina; he was the cherished grandfather of Angelique Delgado, Alexis Angel Solis, Jaime Sanchez, Kathlyn Solis, Crystal Stinson, Kaleigh Mae Evelina, David Trinidad, Jr., Anthony Evelina, Jr., and Olivia Angel Evelina; and the dearly loved great-grandfather of Adriana Round, Ella Grace Stinson, Maria Sanchez, and Madeline Sanchez; he was also the loving brother of Pedro Cortes, Israel Cortes, Luisa (Carmen) Cortes Rodriguez, Nelida Cortes Perez, and Hector Cortes. Angel will be lovingly missed by his best friend and black lab, Charlie.  The two of them had a lot in common including joint pain and swelling, would sneak food when nobody was looking, and were grumpy most of the time.

For those inclined to send flowers the family asks you to please send dish gardens or plants they could take home.