Thomas Stio, a lifelong Villager resident who served in World War II and was active until recently in American Legion Post 1212, died June 16 at Cabrini Hospice at the age of 91.
Hospitalized with pneumonia in April, he was moved to the hospice in May and died of complications, according to his daughter, Mary Ann Schewciw.
Thomas Stio was born on Market St. on the Lower East Side to Gaetano and Mary Josephine Stio, immigrants from Italy, on Feb. 12, 1914. He graduated from Commerce High School in Manhattan and became a bookbinder. In 1940, he married Isabella Sigliano from Thompson St. and moved to the Village.
He entered the Army shortly before Pearl Harbor, served in the Pacific and took part in the invasion of the Philippines. After the war he and his wife made their home on Sullivan St. where they raised their family. His wife died at the age of 56 in 1970.
He moved to River Terrace in Battery Park City in December 2003 in order to be in an elevator building, his daughter said, but he continued to attend meetings and events at the American Legion Hall on Sullivan St. until March of this year. He also was a member of the Forty and Eight, an American Legion honor society devoted to charitable causes.
In addition to his daughter Mary Ann Shewciw, of Washington Township, N.J., another daughter, Angela McKenna, of Queens, three grandchildren and two brothers, Anthony Stio, of the Lower East Side, and Robert Stio, of Florida, and a sister, Rose Stio, of the Lower East Side, also survive.
The funeral service was at St. Anthony’s Church on Sullivan St. on Mon., June 20. Perazzo Funeral Home, 199 Bleecker St., was in charge of arrangements.
Villager photos by Talisman Brolin
