Joseph Dirusso

Visiting Hours:
Sunday, 12/4, 2-4 & 7-9 PM

Religious Service Sunday, 12/4, 8:00 PM
At The Funeral Home

Interment: Monday, 12/5, 10:45 AM
St. Charles Cemetery

Joseph DiRusso, 77 years old of Wantagh, New York, entered into eternal life on November 30, 2016. He was born November 7, 1939, the eldest of four children born to Virgilio and Helen DiRusso in Brooklyn, New York. His birth was difficult and resulted in catastrophic brain injuries which left him profoundly disabled. His parents nurtured him in a loving home where they were blessed with three more children. Through their parent’s example his sisters and brother learned that caring for Joseph was their most important responsibility and their greatest gift. Joseph was the glue that held his family together.
When his sisters moved away to raise their own families Joseph’s mother, with the help of her youngest child Len, cared for Joseph until her death in 1991. Due to Joseph’s disabilities Helen rarely left her home but her daughters and a host of extended family and friends visited often. Joseph rarely spoke intelligible words but could say “Uncle Thomas” because he and his wife made the trip from Queens to Brooklyn every Friday night for over twenty five years. Sunday macaroni dinners with family and friends were the highlight of Joseph’s week. He attended every family function and family and friends came from far and wide to celebrate his seventieth birthday.
In 1991 Joseph moved to the Wantagh home of Annette (Reese) and her family. By then Joseph needed nursing care and a team of dedicated home health professionals, some of whom spent decades caring for Joseph, came to the house and tended to Joseph under Annette’s watchful eye. Though Mary and Len did not live with Joseph they cherished time spent with him and taught their children and grandchildren to do the same. Joseph needed to be hospitalized and his sister Mary spent many hours at his bedside to prevent him from pulling out his IV line.
When Annette became disabled her daughter Denise, who had learned through her mother’s example, took over the care of both Joseph and Annette. It is in giving that we receive and loving that we are loved.
Joseph made everyone who loved or cared for him a better person; more sensitive, more responsible, more kind, and more loving. We feel his absence deeply and hope to forever remember the beauty of pure love which was Joseph DiRusso. His mother believed Joseph was God’s angel and as he passed into the next life with a smile on his face we know she was there to greet him.