Elizabeth (Liz) Mattaliano

Elizabeth “Liz” Mattaliano (nee Casteline), age 95, of Wayne, passed peacefully on Sunday, January 23, 2022.

Liz was born in Clifton to Paul and Victoria Casteline. She was raised in Passaic and attended Passaic High School.

Liz married the love of her life, Loures “Lou” Mattaliano and after proposing marriage at a romantic place called Rutt's Hut. They married on May 9, 1948.  They had their wedding reception in a hall on Lexington Avenue in Clifton, which later became a funeral home. They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary with a party at the Mountainside Restaurant in Clifton.

When Liz and Lou married they lived in a three family home on Paulison Avenue in Passaic. Her in-laws lived on the first floor, she and her family lived on the second floor, and her sister-in-law and niece lived on the third floor. Lots of fond memories throughout the years were made here. Liz and Lou moved to Van Houten Avenue in Passaic Park on January 21, 1972.  She loved Passaic, reading all the gossip in the Independent Prospector, having pizza on Jefferson Street with Torrie at Leonard’s Bakery, buying cake at Jefferson Bakery, eating lunch at Lenny Cohen’s Deli, shopping at Ginsburg, and having dinner at the Chinese restaurant after walking up 75 steps on Main Avenue.

Liz never had a driver’s license, but that never stopped her from getting around. Early on she would catch the bus in front of her house and go downtown in Passaic to do her shopping.  Later in life the job lovingly fell on her loved ones. Living in Passaic, she would catch the 74 bus on Main Avenue and go into Paterson’s business district to shop as well. Jacobs was the department store at the time and after shopping there she would go around the corner and buy the best jelly donuts.  Often she would take a bus into Rutherford to Shop Rite and other stores for what she needed. Not driving did not stop her in the least.

In her “Golden Years” she moved to the Township of Wayne near her local family and lived at the senior community called Siena Village, then the Preakness Nursing Home for the past ten years. The family is thankful to the wonderful staff there, and especially thankful for Fritzie and Luna who took care of Liz with love and respect.  Liz was always proud to be a Breast Cancer survivor, and was always thankful for the care she received from Dr. Ocello, whose office was on Broadway in Passaic.

Liz was a believer in God and in her younger years attended Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church and St Anthony’s Church, both in Passaic. In her later years she attended Our Lady of Consolation Church in Wayne with her family.

Her work life consisted of working for the Passaic Board of Education at the Passaic High School’s Cafeteria Snack Bar for many years, serving Ironhead and the rest of the Passaic student community alike. She loved the all of the football players and the teachers from the school. Liz would recount stories of working as a Coat Check lady at the Villanova on Midland Avenue in Garfield and also at The Fair on Main Avenue in Passaic.  For a while she worked at home filling vending machine capsules for the Mark Vending Company in Passaic and working at The Strand. Along with her work she also spent many hours helping at St Anthony’s Church in Passaic where she often cooked for the priests at the rectory.

Liz was the devoted wife of fifty-three years to the late Lou Mattaliano (d. 2001) who served his country in World War II. She was the devoted mother of three children and their families: Lou Mattaliano, Jr. of Chatham and his girlfriend Sherrylynn and remained close to his ex-wife Anne Marie Mattaliano of Cheverly, Maryland, Carl Mattaliano and his wife Pamela of Merrimack, New Hampshire, and Victoria Trentacost and her husband Chief Patrick Trentacost of Wayne. She was the cherished grandmother of Laura Mattaliano Castillo and her husband Dr. Roberto Castillo, Lisa Mattaliano Goodwin and her husband Bobby Goodwin, Megan Mattaliano-Kiel and her husband Louis Kiel, Patrick Trentacost, Jr., Katie Mattaliano and her boyfriend Cameron, Victor Trentacost and his fiancé Danielle, and Louie Trentacost and his fiancé Megan. She was the dearly loved great-grandmother of Chiara Castillo, Leo Castello, Avery Sue Goodwin, Marie Kiel, Elizabeth “Libby” Kiel, and Taylor Kiel.  She was predeceased by her brothers Larry and Sam Casteline and her sisters Fanny Agnello and Anna Peters.

Those who know Liz will tell that she spoke her mind and didn’t sugar-coat anything. She would always say off-color things, use profanity, and was always saying “Don’t play that shit!” She loved to cook and her meat loaf, steak-umms with yellow American cheese and mayo were always a favorite. She enjoyed watching Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and the Price is Right television programs,” just to name a few. Liz and Lou would often frequent destinations like Las Vegas, Atlantic City, and Aruba to gamble away their children’s inheritance.  Annual family trips in the car to Florida, stopping at every Stucky’s along the way and the requisite stop at South of the Border, have also created many loving memories. During the children’s younger years they would spend the month of August at the Dune’s Hotel or the Thunderbird in Miami Beach with the family. Most years they spent a week at the Jersey Shore in Chadwick Beach at Liz’s brother Sam’s house. Liz loved going to the boardwalk and playing Skillo.  One of her passions was playing Bingo and she played it everywhere she went.  Most of all she enjoyed Bingo, destinations like the Clifton Boy’s Club and the Wayne PAL. She enjoyed playing games at home as well.  While playing cards at home she always won – usually a $1.00 – and made up rules as she went along. Some would say she was cheating, but she was just increasing the odds of her winning.  She enjoyed all kinds of other games as well such as playing the lottery at Franzonie’s Liquor Store in Passaic or simply enjoying a hand held Poker video game.  She was always doing something, and along with her games she enjoyed spending time with family and doing wholesome things like chasing fires in Passaic with Torrie when Pat was working or ordering Omaha Steaks on her son's AMX Card and then gifting him the steaks.

You could always count on Liz to share stories from the past with her children and grandchildren. On holidays she loved to make the antipasto and would get the grandchildren to take her shopping and help her put it all together.  All loved her marinated mushrooms and artichokes, baked pineapple upside down cake, as well as her holiday “honey balls.”  She loved pizza but hated cheese and would take the cheese off with her hands and try to sell it to her grandchildren.  The grandkids will also fondly remember her reaching over into their plates and stealing their food. All these times together will be cherished.  She loved to go out to eat and KFC,  Bensi (Bengi’s as she called it), Red Lobster, Charlie Brown’s, Rutt's Hut, the Hot Grill and ordering out Chinese food were her favorites…along with drinking Black Russians.

Liz’s list of nicknames is long: Babe, Lousy Dog, Liz, Lizzy, Lizzy Bird, Grandma, Mom, Gigga Liz by her grandson Victor because of the skin that hung under her chin. The best was MUGGA which she got from her grandson Patrick 32 years ago because he couldn’t say Grandma…the name stuck. Some notable songs she loved were: Spanish Eyes, Please Release Me, Let Me Go, Al Di La, After the Lovin’, Dreams, and Roses are Red My Love. She liked Jerry Vale, Bobby Vinton, Tony Bennett, Eydie Gorme & Steve Lawrence, Robert Goulet, and Don Rickles.

When it came to her appearance Liz hated dresses and always wore pant suits or slacks.  She bought her shoes at Kmart and her designer of choice was Alfred Dunner.  She wore red lipstick only from Avon, red nail polish, and Ciara perfume was her favorite. For many years her hair was dyed red and more recently silver gray was the color of choice.  She loved wearing big glasses and her grandsons would say she looked like Martin Scorsese.

Liz was renowned for stealing half-n-half creamers at Preakness, cleaning supplies from the cleaning cart at Siena Village, taking countless salt or pepper shakers and silverware from Jersey diners she visited, and even frozen food from Torrie’s freezer…that was Liz. She hated cleaning the house, loved sitting on the couch and watching the birds and neighbors, and will be remembered for holding a grudge or two. However that never changed the fact that she loved the people around her, especially her family. She had a Heart of Gold.

She loved animals – especially Huskies. Pal, Alaska, Missy, Bella, and Ariel (who she called Lollapalooza) were all Siberian puppies she collected along life’s path. Her famous quote was, “Don’t bite Grandma!” In her younger years on Paulison Avenue, she even had a few cats and put out cans of food for her feral friends of the neighborhood.

Most of all Liz was proud of her family and their accomplishments.  Whether it was her children Lou, Carl, and Torrie she was always smiling and telling anyone who would listen about something they had done.  She would brag about something Lou did, talk about how Carl worked for the same company since graduating college – and don’t forget all the trips to Oklahoma when he was in college. Then there was Torrie, her youngest and only daughter, who was born on Christmas Day. Liz would lovingly tell her she was a mistake, and that if she wasn’t a Christmas gift she would have returned her!  Liz truly loved them all in her own way.  Most of all her son-in-law Patrick was her favorite.  She would proudly tell everyone he was the Fire Chief in Passaic.

Elizabeth “Liz” Mattaliano is the last of her siblings and marks the end of a generation in her own way. To indirectly quote Frankie: She lived a life that was full. She traveled each and every highway. But more than that, she did things her way…

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations to Our Lady of Consolation Church, 1799 Hamburg Turnpike, Wayne, NJ 07470 would be greatly appreciated.