Mary F. LaCava

Mary Frances (Buttafuoco) LaCava, loving wife for 67 years of the late Anthony “Tony” George LaCava, passed away peacefully Saturday May 27, 2023 at the age of 94 surrounded by her loving family and loving caregiver. Born in Hartford on July 1, 1928 to the late Peter and Frances Buttafuoco, Mary was one of five children. Mary was a parishioner of Saint Luke’s Church in Hartford for over 70 years until its closing, where she regularly attended mass. She was also very active in the Saint Luke Rosary Society where she served as an officer.

Mary was a 1946 graduate of Hartford Public High School. She worked at several Hartford area insurance companies after graduation. She delivered Meals on Wheels with her husband Tony to Wethersfield residents for almost a decade, was an active member of the Home Builders Association of Hartford County Women’s Auxiliary, and enjoyed being a Den Mother to her sons when they were in Cub Scouts. Mary enjoyed traveling, going out to dinner, and in her younger days bowling, water skiing and snow skiing. She also enjoyed playing tennis and golf well into her seventies.

First and foremost, Mary was a loving and generous wife, mother, grandmother, and great grandmother. The true definition of a mother, she was a mother to her youngest sister, her three sons, her grandchildren, and great grandchildren. She enjoyed time with her family, whether it was spending time during the summer at the family’s summer house in Indian Town Old Saybrook or Sunday dinners at her home in Wethersfield when not at the beach. We will always remember the times at Indian Town, where it would be a regular event to have extended family and friends around on the weekends playing horseshoes, bocce and cards. Mary enjoyed playing bridge with her husband Tony weekly in Wethersfield, and Cribbage, Back Alley Bridge and Poker with the family.

Mary was a living example of a mother, of love, faith in God, generosity, and integrity to her family. We were blessed to have her in our lives for almost 95 years. She will be truly missed by her entire family, but we take comfort in knowing that her strong faith in God has brought her to her final resting place next to her Lord and Savior and that she is reunited once again with her husband Tony. When going through one of her photo albums a poem sent to Mary and Tony by someone unknown demonstrates how they touched peoples’ lives and is an example of two lives well lived:

I’ve never seen God, But I know how I feel,

It’s people like you who make him so real,

It seems that I pass him so little each day,

In the faces of people I meet on my way,

I wish I might meet God much more than I do,

I would if there were more people like you

Mary is survived by her sons, George LaCava and his wife Elizabeth of Cromwell, Peter LaCava of Cromwell, Stephen LaCava and his wife Heidi of Wethersfield; grandsons, Anthony LaCava II of Cromwell and Stephen LaCava, Jr. of Wethersfield; granddaughters, Lindsay LaCava and her husband Brian Agan of Wilton, Mary LaCava and her partner Alejandro Lopez of Meriden, Kayleigh LaCava of Manchester, Marissa LaCava of Port Richey, Florida, Gianna LaCava of Newington, Toni Jean LaCava of Wethersfield and Karina Gorski of Cromwell, as well as great-grandchildren, Jonathan, Jordan, Harper, Charlie, Isabella, Anthony, Elena, Antonio and Alejandro. Mary is also survived by her sisters, Dolores Tutino and her husband Sandro of Somers and Patricia Scott of Middletown, New York, as well as many brothers-in-law and sisters-in law, nieces and nephews and their families. She was predeceased by her brother, Bennie Buttafuoco and sister, Janet Buttafuoco.

The family would like to thank her caregiver Rosalee, who lovingly cared for Mary the last nine months of her life.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, June 2nd at 9:30 a.m. at Holy Trinity Catholic Church, 53 Capitol Avenue, Hartford. Everyone is asked to please go directly to the church. Burial will immediately follow in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford.

Those wishing to make a donation in Mary’s name can do so to Holy Trinity Catholic Church. To share a memory of Mary with her family, please visit www.desopofuneralchapel.com.