Constantino Soldiviero

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Constantino (Gus) Soldiviero, 92, a retired city Parks Department laborer, decorated World War II veteran and longtime Rosebank resident who came to this country as a boy and made it his own, died Sunday in Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn.

Born in Auletta, Salerno, Italy, he immigrated to the United States in 1931, moving to Rosebank with his mother, Rosa, and brother, Italo, and joining his father, Valentino, who'd arrived a year earlier.

Mr. Soldiviero would live in Rosebank for 80 years, until moving to the Norwegian Christian Home and Health Center in Brooklyn two years ago.

He left McKee High School before graduation to serve in the U.S. Army during World War II, from October 1942 until December 1945, seeing duty in the European theater of operations. Five days before war's end, he was wounded in action in Germany, and was awarded the Purple Heart. He was a member of the Labetti Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Before he went off to the military, he met Rose Pucciarelli through her five brothers, all Rosebank residents. Upon his return, the couple resumed their friendship, which grew into love, and they wed on June 15, 1947, in St. Joseph's R.C. Church in their community.

Mr. Soldiviero worked for the city Parks Department as a laborer for many years.

He was a member of the New Lane Senior Center and the Grant City AARP.

Hardworking and family-focused, he exemplified the traditional values he'd grown up with.

"He was very humble, was always helping others, and never spoke about himself," said his grandson, Nicholas Martin.

Mr. Soldiviero loved having his family around him, and enjoyed participating in activities at the Labetti Post. He was an avid New York Yankees fan and watched all the games. And in earlier years he was an enthusiastic and skilled gardener, growing tomatoes, basil and zucchini for his wife to use in her cooking.

He was a parishioner of St. Joseph's Church.

Rose, his wife of 66 years, died in 2013.

Surviving, along with his grandson, is his daughter, Rosemary Soldiviero.

The funeral will be Wednesday from the Casey Funeral Home, Castleton Corners, with a mass at 11 a.m. in St. Joseph's Church. Burial will follow in St. Mary's Cemetery, Grasmere.