Always remembered  as my partner as we patrolled Nassau  Country.
Missed but not forgotten .
Bill

Once your partner always your partner with the Nassau  County Police. Very much missed.
Bill Herbert

The “Cat” was a great partner that taught me a lot about being a good street cop. He will always be missed.
Bill Herbert

I was very sad to find out that John passed away.  I am a retired police officer from Nassau County and John and I were partners for 3 years. I will always member him as a dedicated and professional law enforcement officer who taught me a great deal.
I will keep him and his wife JoAnn in my thoughts.
Bill  

Uncle Johnny and aunt Joanne were always very special to me.  I will love them both forever and always hold them very close to my heart.  I know my dad had a nice pot of sauce waiting for him!!!!

Dad - Thank you for always loving me like one of your own.  The lessons I learned from you from our many conversations have made me a wiser and braver person.  I feel so blessed to have been part of this wonderful, crazy, loud, loving family for the last 33 years.   It is good to know that we will never run out of stories to retell over and over again to our children and our children's children.  There will never be another man like you, but I know your son and grandsons will do their best to carry on your legacy.   There is not a day that I am not grateful for you and Mom.  I love you both so much.  You will live on in our hearts and memories forever.  I know we will all be together again someday laughing and celebrating like we always have, but until then I will miss you more than you could ever know. 

We (all the guys) once visited Mike,  Mrs, Mr C and the family when they relocated to Florida. Mr C encouraged us to go swimming In the lake, said it would be fine....  after battling the killer Red ants on the way back to the house for a swim in the pool, It didn’t take long for the neighbors to figure out the Catalano’s invited some of their New York friends from back home to visit. We were then told by the neighbors  “no one swims in that lake” or swims in a pool this time of year! When we saw Mr C laughing with along with them, we then knew he set us up...  
That’s only one of the MANY memories I have of Mr C. He was a great man that I had the pleasure of knowing.  He will be greatly miss by all. 

Ralph, Lisa, Christian & Erica Santantonio 

A special thanks to my sister Lori her boyfriend David and my brother John and my sister in law Felice for supporting each other during this difficult time.

I couldn’t have made it through this without the unwavering support from my Wife Joy and daughter Bella. My wife absolutely loved my Father and would often call him and talk with him on her own when I wasn’t around. She is equally grieving as I am, but has stayed strong and made this time so much easier for me. 

I hope everyone made it to the end of this letter, as promised, it had many less curse words, and wasn’t nearly as interesting of a story as my Father could tell. It is just a mere snippet of the full life he led. 

Dad, I know you are ecstatic to see your parents, brother, relatives, and friends in heaven, but I know right after you see them, you will be walking the beat in heaven holding the line.

You are gone but not forgotten,

Your son Mike  


Holidays were huge for us, and we regularly had 20-25 relatives for dinner and then a second crew of relatives would come for desert (Aunt Ana’s Apple Pie). Each Christmas Eve was spent at Uncle Julie and Aunt Molly’s house with a whole sleigh of relatives and cousins.

My Father’s grandkids Andrew, Christina, Jimmy, Angie, Jake, Luke, and Bella were the world to him. He loved them dearly and they equally loved and adored him. He even had four great-grandchildren Sophia, Amelia, Riley, Cecilia who played a huge part in his life


A close second to family were the myriad of close friends my father had in his life. He grew up with a group of guys; Eddie, Mike, Butch, Joe, Tom, and Paul who all became friends when they were 7-8 yrs. old. Their friendships have reigned for 70 plus years and continue to this day. They all remained extremely close through the years and were together regularly for dinners, birthdays, and any/all special events that may have occurred. 

My Father was especially close to ‘Uncle Eddie” and Aunt Joanie my God parents and pretty much spent several days a week going out to eat or having coffee together at each other’s homes. When my Uncle Eddie passed this summer it really took a large toll on my Father’s psyche. 

He had a host of other close friends to include Al and Annie, Billy and Helga, Frank and Ida and too many others to list.

There was another group of guys that were so important to him; and they were his “biker buddies”. They traveled together to every biketoberfest, bike week, poker runs, and even to Sturgis. A special thanks to George, Bobby, Johnny A/C, Neal, Stuie, Ronnie, Richie, Artie (RIP), Johnny P (RIP), and many others I didn’t have the pleasure to meet. Thanks for keeping close to my Father even when he stopped riding his bike. He truly loved you guys!!!!

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So, for the last few days, I was pondering how the hell could I summarize my Father’s 81 years of life in one short letter or speech. Especially, since he was such a prolific storyteller, joke teller, and someone that could take over a room with such ease. I certainly don’t have these traits and I am more of a lay low and out of the spotlight type of guy. I will tell you this, I will try and do it, but can guarantee it will not be as interesting, funny, and will have a lot less curse words then he would use when telling stories.

I thought long and hard about this and soon realized, there is no way I can encapsulate all of the nuisances of his life in this short memorial letter. As I sat and pondered this, it became immediately apparent there were three main focal points of his life I wanted to share, and they were Family, Friends, and Service.

Growing up my Father was very close with his parents and both his younger brother “Uncle Joe”, and older brother ‘Uncle Freddy”. My Uncle Joe was very sick when he was young and was in and out of the Hospital for six years due to him suffering from Rheumatic fever. The whole family would spend almost every day at the Hospital to be with my Uncle Joe. They always looked after my Uncle Joe and were very protective of him.

Through the years both my uncles were a huge part of my sister Lori and brother John’s life. We spent holidays, birthdays, and Sunday dinner’s routinely with them and all of our cousins.

My Mom and Father were married for 50 plus years and they provided a great childhood for us. They never missed a sporting event or school function for any of us, and were always supported us during good times and bad.

Just about every Friday was spent at Nathan’s with Aunt Gail and Uncle Tony, and our cousins Richard, Tony, and Steven. We would then head over to Aunt Gail and Uncle Tony’s house and they would play cards while we would hang out with our cousins.

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I met John through my dear friend Mike his son. John would talk to me about his career and became my mentor and motivator to get into Law Enforcement. Thankyou John and may you RIP my mentor and brother Officer!!!!

My friendship with John began in the early 90s with a few other retired cops that soon grew to be called the Boca Boys. We were always riding our Harleys and spent many Daytona Bike Weeks together. John always brought fun and laughter on our rides and loved 
 showing off his latest bike invention. 
 These were some of the best times of my life that wouldn't have been the same without "The Cat."
Thank you John for your friendship and memories, Bob Leupp


 

Sir although I did not know you personally but we had recently connected on Facebook from being friends with your son Mike. May you RIP in Gods arms. 

You have inspired many to follow the path of law enforcement and are great full 

AMEN

OBITUARIO

John Francis Catalano

25 agosto, 1939 – 12 enero, 2021

Babione Funeral Home

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