Anthony D. "Tony" Cartier

Anthony (Tony) Cartier, a retired Industrial Engineer who worked for Western Electric, now Lucent Technologies, in Lee’s Summit for over 35 years, passed away on July 29, 2012, at the age of 93, in St. Louis Missouri comforted by his daughter Kathy C. Maupin MD, son-in-law John W. Maupin, and granddaughter Dr. Rachel C. Maupin. He was preceded in death by his father, Louis Coppola, his mother Angelina (Mongiello), his stepmother Helen (Lenihan), his sister Angelina, and brother Andrew, as well as his wife and soul-mate of 51 years, Eve (Gelgauda), on March 18th, 2008. Together, Tony and Eve lived the American dream, working their way from want to plenty: in their early years, living in Pennsylvania, they owned and enjoyed riding thoroughbred horses and playing tennis. Together they literally built their first house in 1951 by hand in Allentown, PA where their daughter Kathy was born. Tony’s family moved to Kansas City in 1958 as part of the team that set up operations at the new WE plant that made the transistors for the first communications satellite, Telstar. He lived in south Kansas City for over fifty years before he moved to Creve Coeur in 2010 to live near his daughter’s family. He first lived with Kathy and John, and then moved to the Hallmark, an independent/assisted living facility. Shortly before his death, he moved to Mercy Skilled Nursing where the love and care of the compassionate staff along with Seasons Hospice, made him comfortable until his death. In addition to his daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter, Tony is survived by his daughter Kathy, his grand-daughter Rachel, his son-in-law, John, second cousins, Dean and Richard (Dick) Copley, nieces Laurie Farnlof Miner (Vermont), Susan Farnloff Holland (Connecticut), Chris Gelgauda Farina (Connecticut), Richard Gelgauda, and Sally Gelgauda Klinq (Austrailia). Tony began his life on March 1, 1919, in a 6th floor apartment at the corner of Hester and Mott in Manhattan’s Little Italy. He was the youngest member of two very large “clans”, the Coppola Family and the Mongiello Family. He grew up in Brooklyn when it was an undeveloped suburb of New York City, where he fondly remembered taking the trolley with his father through grassy meadows to the Ulmer Park dock to fish for “Lafayette fish." He was known for his good looks and charisma, which opened many doors to his future. Tony began working before he was 16 as a musician, a bandleader and drummer, to earn money for his family, often arriving home after 4 am as a teenager! He entertained at private parties on Long Island until he went to college and earned a degree in industrial engineering. He embodied the engineer’s mentality to an extreme with his penchant to measure 25 times and cut once, which both irritated and entertained his family. After his marriage to Eve and the birth of Kathy, the three of them moved to Kansas City. While living in Kansas City, Tony shared his beautiful tenor voice with his church, enjoyed monthly bridge games with friends and neighbors, enjoyed photography and developing his own pictures, bicycling, jogging, and spent a lot of time teaching his daughter to cast a fishing lure, fillet a fish, and get under a car and change the oil. In his mind if you couldn’t maintain a car or fillet a fish you couldn’t drive or fish! He and Eve always enjoyed the company of beautiful dogs, from schnauzers to boxers to Dobermans to Boston terriers to German shorthaired pointers. His faithful friends, Marge and George Kahler, Bob and Bernie Hughes, Katherine Trummer, Dr. Mark Angles, and all of his loving neighbors, helped him through the last years in Kansas City with Eve so they could stay in their own home. He spent his retirement fishing for bass and making beautiful hardwood furniture in his basement workroom, including his granddaughter’s cradle. The smell of sawdust still reminds his daughter fondly of him. He wanted to be remembered for his accomplishments and his hard work and creativity of youth, and not for the diminished portrait of the man he became with old age. Visitation will be held from 10:00-11:00 a.m. followed by memorial service at 11:00 a.m. Saturday, September 8, at Mt. Moriah & Freeman Funeral Home, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, Missouri. Inurment in Mount Moriah Cemetery, where he will be eternally joined with Eve. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the Humane Society of Missouri at hsmo.org. Psalms 91:4 He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and a bulwark. Condolences may be offered at www.mtmoriah-freeman.com.