Gabriele Violante

Gabriele Violante, aged 88 years -- of Wayne and formerly of Clifton, New Jersey passed away peacefully in the early hours of Sunday morning on the 11th of July 2021. He is survived by his wife Yolanda, daughter Nancy and grand-daughter Nicole.

Born and raised in the rural village of Villa Celiera in the central Italian region of Abruzzo, Gabriele, the beloved son of Antonio and Anunziata Violante was the youngest of seven children. His childhood was defined by the family’s modest means and by the passing of his mother when he was just 11 years old. Like many of his generation, Gabriele’s formal education concluded with the eighth grade and his lessons in the school of life began soon after. Desperate to help his family, he would walk miles in bare feet to neighboring towns looking for work, trekking deep through the mountains to get to his destination. It was in these moments he would learn the benefits of hard work; a core value that would carry him through the rest of his life.

As a young man, Gabriele served in the Italian Army’s specialist mountain infantry. Known as the Alpini or Le Penne Nere, “The Black Feathers” were nicknamed for the black raven feathers that adorned their emerald helmets. His troop was responsible for maintaining a force in the Alpine mountains during the Cold War. Upon Gabriele’s return to civilian life, he made the life-altering decision to leave his homeland behind and emigrated to Canada where he would begin work as a brick layer. It was back-breaking work, but it helped lay the foundation for the new life he was trying to create.

Lonely in his new home, Gabriele hoped to meet someone to share his life with. A friend showed him a photograph of a beaming brown-haired beauty named Yolanda Silvestri. Yolanda was also a recent immigrant from Italy who had moved in with family in the United States. No stranger to overcoming obstacles, a little distance wasn’t going to keep him from meeting the girl with the brilliant smile. Gabriele made the journey from Sarnia in Ontario, Canada to Passaic, New Jersey. Yolanda was charmed by his piercing blue eyes, deep brown hair and chiseled features, but it was his warm heart and loving nature that sealed the deal. They fell in love and after a whirlwind courtship of just three months, the young couple knew they wanted to spend the rest of their lives together.

They exchanged wedding vows on Sunday, the 5th of October 1958 at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church on St. Francis Way in Passaic. After a honeymoon to Niagara Falls, they started life as husband and wife in an apartment on Hope Avenue in Passaic. Two years later, they welcomed a precious baby girl whom they named Nancy, in honor of Gabriele’s late mother. After years of hard work and pinching pennies, in 1965 the couple purchased their own home on Patricia Place in Clifton. Gabriele and Yolanda would spend the next 46 years making memories in that home.

Summer weekends were spent in front of a hot charcoal grill with an ice-cold bottle of St. Pauli Girl beer in one hand and a sizzling lamb skewer in the other. In the winter, his holiday light display would make his little girl’s eyes twinkle with joy. Gabriele put plenty of work into making his house the pride of the street. The outside was blooming with flowers of every size and variety, and the inside never went more than 4 years, every election cycle – like clockwork, without a fresh coat of paint.

Inspired by his rural upbringing, Gabriele started a landscaping business – Silvestri and Violante Landscaping, with his brother-in-law Bruno Silvestri. The business was based in Clifton and served residents of the surrounding areas. During the winter months when the ground was hard and cold, Gabriele found work at the Marcal paper mill in Elmwood Park. It was his dream to earn enough to provide his daughter with the kind of childhood he never had. Love was his source of motivation in all that he did. He loved his family and his neighbors on Patricia Place. The families that lined the quiet suburban street reminded him of the friendly little village of his childhood, and the lucky ones were gifted a bottle of Gabriele’s homemade Italian red wine.

In 2011, when Gabriele and Yolanda sold their home in Clifton and moved in with their daughter Nancy, Gabriele retired and concentrated all his efforts on keeping his daughter’s lawn in tip-top shape and planting enough tomatoes and vegetables in the garden to feed all his new neighbors. Being a man of leisure did not come easily to him, but he enjoyed spending his evenings sitting beside his wife watching episodes of Jeopardy and Law and Order on television. He loved re-runs of old cowboy shows like Gunsmoke and Bonanza, and would enjoy them while treating himself to a heaping bowl of Tin Roof Sundae ice cream, or the occasional scotch and soda. His favorite member of his new household was his grand-daughter’s fluffy white Maltese named Murphy. Murphy’s exuberant tail wagging let everyone know that the feeling was mutual. “It’s my gray hair,” he would joke, “he thinks we’re related!”

While Gabriele had spent his entire life taking pride in his work, in the end, his greatest pride and achievement was his family. This was especially true of his daughter Nancy and grand-daughter Nicole. He saw them as his legacy. Their successes and happiness were the reasons Gabriele had moved to America all those years ago. With each of life’s milestones, he knew he’d done what he set out to do – create a better life for the next generation. He had done his best to set an example and to prepare them for the world they’d face when he wasn’t around. He had finally made it and was able to leave this life with the peace of knowing he would live on in the hearts and minds of those he had loved most.

Gabriele Violante was a selfless and humble man, and a dedicated husband, father and grandfather. He was an ordinary, yet remarkable, person whose hard work and determination inspired all those that had the privilege of knowing him. He will be profoundly missed by his family and friends.

Gabriele was the beloved husband to his wife of 62 years, Yolanda. He was the loving father of Nancy Cakir of Wayne, and cherished grandfather of Nicole Cakir of Wayne.