Frank Colazzo

Frank Colazzo, age 91, of Wayne passed peacefully at home on Sunday, March 29, 2020 surrounded by his loving family.

He was born at home on Jersey Street in Paterson to Crifone and Concetta Colazzo. Frank graduated from Central High School in Paterson with the Class of 1945 and was soon drafted into the US Army during the Korean War. Frank served from 1950 through 1952 and spent much of his time in Germany before being honorably discharged. After his service Frank found employment with Kearfott Guidance and Navigation in Little Falls where he worked for thirty-eight years before retiring in 1990.

Frank will be lovingly remembered as a man who was deeply devoted to his family and supported his children and grandchildren in all of their endeavors.  One the fondest memories is when his daughter’s kite got stuck on the roof of the Swan Motel in Wildwood Crest, NJ and he climbed onto the roof of the motel to get it down. He always made time to attend all of his grandchildren’s school functions and extracurricular activities. He loved to hunt which was something that began with his own father and continued on with his son and grandsons. His other passion was cars. He could frequently be found slithering under a car and having his children hand him tools or just his tinkering about the house as he could fix just about anything.

Frank met the love of his life Pauline Gualtieri as she and her mother were renting the downstairs level of the Colazzo’s two family home on Main Street in Paterson.  Frank and Pauline married on July 2, 1961 at Saint Anthony’s Church in Paterson and honeymooned on a road trip to California.  Frank had recently purchased a 1960 T-Bird but didn’t want to put the miles on his new car so they took his ’56 Mercury which broke down in the middle of the desert. Frank fixed the car and they continued on their way.  Frank always had an eye for vintage cars and kept that 1960 T-Bird in the driveway even when its useful life was over. His son Frank knew how much his dad loved that car and many years later had it restored to its original silver-gray showroom condition. He would drive that T-Bird in many Wayne parades. In 1964 Frank and Pauline had a house built in Wayne where they raised their two children and spent their retirement years. They were just about as inseparable as a couple could be.

Frank was the loving husband of almost 59 years to Pauline; he was the devoted father of Frank C. Colazzo and his wife Rosemary of Wayne and Constance P. Millahn and her husband Charles of Wantage;  he was the cherished grandfather of Nicholas Colazzo, James Colazzo, Daniel Colazzo, Scott Millahn, and Lauren Scott and her husband Patrick.