ForeverMissed
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This memorial website was created in memory of our loving father.

Viewing
5-8pm Wednesday, November 4, 2020
Lakewood Funeral Home
6250 U.S. 9
Howell, NJ 07731

Funeral Service
10:30am Thursday, November 5, 2020
St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church
43 Madison Avenue
Lakewood, NJ 08701

Internment
St. Mary Cemetery And Mausoleum
Honey Locust Drive
Lakewood, NJ 08701

All events will be socially-distanced with masks required.

As our father wished, in lieu of flowers please send donations to either of these charities:
- St. Jude Children's Research Hospital (https://www.stjude.org/)
- Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (https://www.pancan.org/)



Giuseppe (Joseph) Anzalone, 79, avid gardener, traveler, and master carpenter, peacefully passed away on Sunday, November 1, 2020 in his home in Lakewood, NJ, after a ten-month battle with pancreatic cancer. He departed in the presence of his loving wife of fifty years, Alfonza, and his children Giovanni, Nancy, and Joe.

Joseph was born in the village of Ventimiglia, Sicily, in the midst of World War II, to Giovanni and Nunzia Anzalone. Throughout childhood he enjoyed accompanying his father before sunrise to tend to their farm and livestock outside of town. He recalled with great warmth living in a small community where neighbors were family, and he maintained many of those close friendships throughout his life. So close-knit was Ventimiglia that it was an event whenever a new baby arrived, and Joseph remembered running down the street as a child to see newborn Alfonza, who would decades later become his wife.

Formal schooling at that time ended at sixth grade, at which point Joseph decided to become a carpenter’s apprentice. He later moved to Bologna for a carpenter’s position and to be closer to his sister. While becoming a master carpenter, he made life-long friends through the local church, and enjoyed hiking with them through the Dolomites and Apennines mountain ranges in northern Italy.

In the late 1960’s, he decided his future awaited in America. Per local requirements, he  temporarily moved back to his birth region in Sicily to apply for the necessary paperwork for onward emigration to the United States. While there, he ran into Alfonza, and they were soon married in January 1970 before starting a new life together near family who had settled in Lakewood, NJ.

They soon saved enough to build a house, literally: in addition to their full-time work, Joseph joined with his brothers-in-law to form P.G.A. Construction, and together they built several homes in the South Lake area of Lakewood, including his own. Joseph devoted a quarter-acre of the backyard to his garden, which he tended to daily. Throughout summer and fall, Joseph shared the garden’s harvest with every friend and family he visited. He kept his garden throughout his life.

Joseph was deeply devoted to his faith. Church was the focal point of his community in Ventimiglia and Bologna, and that followed to his life in Lakewood where he was an active member of St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church. Upon retirement, he regularly walked three miles to attend morning church services, and volunteered for the St. Vincent de Paul Society where he helped gather and provide food to the most vulnerable in the community. He also volunteered at Lakewood’s medical center.

His devotion to God was only rivaled by his devotion to family. His normally thoughtful demeanor instantly gave way to joviality whenever a baby or toddler visited; he often stole grandbabies away from his children as soon as he saw them, and evaded giving them back. All he did, he did selflessly for his wife, children, and grandchildren; their struggles were the greatest focus of his prayers, their achievements his greatest joy.

Once his children came of age, Joseph semi-retired as a carpenter/foreman and increased his enjoyment of travel. He and his wife traveled to Italy every other summer to spend time with friends, visit family, and to tour new corners of Europe; and they spent the in-between years traveling throughout the United States and Caribbean. Their photos and refrigerator magnet collection serve as visual maps of the memories they created.

They were on their last trip together to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary when Joseph fell ill, resulting in his pancreatic cancer diagnosis two weeks later. He approached his diagnosis and treatment as he did life: with focus, prayer, persistence, and fight, and above all as an example for his children.

Joseph is survived by his wife Alfonza; his children Giovanni and his wife Cathy, Nancy Musacchio and her husband David, and Joe and his wife Sondra; and his grandchildren Gianna, Jack, Anthony, Alex, Leo, Gemma, and Frankie.

Visitation will be held 5:00-8:00pm Wednesday, November 4, 2020, at Lakewood Funeral Home in Howell, NJ. Memorial services will be held 10:30am Thursday, November 5, 2020, at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in Lakewood, NJ. Internment will follow at St. Mary Mausoleum on Honey Locust Drive in Lakewood, NJ. All events will be socially-distanced and will require attendees wear masks.

In lieu of flowers, please send donations to either St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital (www.stjude.org) or the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network (www.pancan.org).





Tributes

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Elizabeth and Pasquale Ve...
November 5, 2020
November 5, 2020
Mr. Anzalone was one God's gifts to our world and his legacy will live on although
he has been lifted to heaven.

Our words of comfort and condolences to Alfonsa and the entire family.

God Bless,

Elizabeth and Pat Venezia

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Recent Tributes
Elizabeth and Pasquale Ve...
November 5, 2020
November 5, 2020
Mr. Anzalone was one God's gifts to our world and his legacy will live on although
he has been lifted to heaven.

Our words of comfort and condolences to Alfonsa and the entire family.

God Bless,

Elizabeth and Pat Venezia
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