Cecil Township couple inseparable, even in death
Courtesy of Phyllis Zaccarino
Jean and Felix Zaccarino, of Cecil Township, dance at a family wedding. The couple had been married 75 years before they died last week, just 16 hours apart.
Courtesy of Phyllis Zaccarino
Jean and Felix Zaccarino, of Cecil Township, had been married 75 years before they died last week, just 16 hours apart.
Courtesy of Phyllis Zaccarino
Jean and Felix Zaccarino, of Cecil Township, had this picture taken in the early 1940s, at the beginning of their 75 years of marriage. The couple died last week just 16 hours apart. He was 96, and she was 93.
Courtesy of Phyllis Zaccarino
Jean and Felix Zaccarino, of Cecil Township, sit with their children, from left, Wayne, Terry and Phyllis, at Christmas time in the early 1960s. Jean and Felix, who had been married 75 years, died last week just 16 hours apart.
Felix and Jean Zaccarino, of Cecil Township, were married 75 years and separated only by death for a few hours.
Felix, 96, and Jean, 93, both died last week, just 16 hours apart. Their children said their love for each other and their family is what kept them alive and together so long.
“They gave each other hell all the time, but no matter what, they were together,” said their son, Wayne Zaccarino of Cecil Township.
Their daughter, Phyllis Zaccarino of Cecil Township, said her parents’ relationship began when Jean was 14 and Felix was 17. They married Sept. 11, 1943, when she was 18 and he was 21. The following year, he, a soldier in the U.S. Army, was stationed in central Europe.
“Dad got tonsillitis in Germany and was hospitalized for months,” Phyllis said. “They thought he was going to die.”
Felix made it back to the United States in 1946, and the following year they had their firstborn Terry Zaccarino, 71, of Fairfax, Va., followed by Wayne, 67, and Phyllis, 62.
Felix, a World War II veteran, coal miner and construction worker, was an avid outdoorsman, Phyllis said. He enjoyed fishing, gardening and hunting, even into his 90s.
“When I was a little girl, he used to go hunting for rabbits and bring them home, and we’d clean them,” Phyllis said. “We hardly ate anything but venison for years. I grew up on that. I thought everybody had a deer hanging up in their garage.”
Wayne said his father was also a great guitarist, who performed in a band for years.
“He played all the time, every day for about an hour or two,” he said.
Jean was a stay-at-home mom for much of her life, but picked up tennis at age 49.
“I took tennis in college and didn’t have anyone to play with, so I taught her,” Phyllis said. “She got really into it.”
Though their hobbies differed, Wayne and Phyllis said their parents did everything together, from weekly grocery shopping and game shows to trying their luck at the casino and dancing the night away at the American Legion in Washington.
“They argued and bickered, but they just always knew they would stay together,” Phyllis said. “We always said it was a dysfunctional relationship that worked.”
Her whole life, Jean was “devoted” to taking care of Felix, but when her health started to deteriorate, that role changed. Wayne and Phyllis, who live nearby their parents’ home, were their parents’ main caretakers.
In the past few months, Jean had multiple illnesses and bone marrow cancer, while Felix had kidney problems and congestive heart failure. In the last few weeks, Jean’s health really started failing.
“I had never seen my father cry in my life,” Wayne said. “But he would cry for long periods of time because he loved his wife so much, and he would say to her, ‘Jean, don’t leave me.'”
On Oct. 24, Felix sat with Jean, and told her that “she was the best wife in the world and the best mother in the world,” Phyllis said.
Early last week, Phyllis was preparing for her mother’s death, and how her father would respond to it.
“They totally screwed us up when he went first,” Phyllis said. “We had no idea because he was in a lot better shape than she was. He just couldn’t stand to see her suffer – not another minute.”
Felix died Oct. 25, “from a broken heart,” Phyllis said. The following day, just 16 hours later, Jean died.
“We told Mom that she had done everything she had to do in life,” Wayne said. “We told her that we love her and that Dad’s gone and went to heaven and is waiting for her.”
Phyllis and Wayne said they believe their parents knew each other’s expiration date and “had this planned somehow.”
“They just never wanted to be without each other,” Phyllis said.
The Zaccarino family will receive friends from 2 to 8 p.m. Thursday in Coleman-Taylor Funeral Services, 3378 Millers Run Road, Cecil Township.
A Christian funeral Mass will be held at noon Friday at St. Mary Catholic Church in Cecil Township.