A Year Later: Denise D'Ascenzo's Star Still Shines Brightly

BRANFORD, CT — When a LIFE STAR medical helicopter flew over the WFSB television station last year in honor of anchor Denise D'Ascenzo just a few days after she died, her husband Wayne Cooke and many others saw a glowing orb in video footage of the flyover. Perhaps explainable, but to Cooke and many others, it was a sign.

“That was Denise, coming back to say, ‘I’m still here,'” Cooke said.

D'Ascenzo died suddenly of a massive heart attack Dec. 7, 2019.

For three decades, millions of Connecticut residents tuned in to watch D’Ascenzo tell their stories. She won an Emmy for her profile of the LIFE STAR service.

“People loved her. When you met her, you loved her and felt, you knew, when she was talking to you, you were the only person that mattered,” Cooke told Patch as he looked back over the past year. “And that always showed in her work. In one of her last stories, one about conjoined twins in Milford, the story she won awards for, she said (of the twins), ‘You’re the stars, I’m just writing it.’ That’s how she approached every story.”

Cooke said he and his daughter Kathryn are “finding our way without her.”

“We’re still moving forward,” he said. “Grief is best described as a process. Sometimes we’re devastated by our thoughts but also comforted by our thoughts. A year later, and I still find myself crying. There are times I just talk to her. I still believe she’s here because she is.”

Cooke said that for a while, he and his daughter felt “lost, just paralyzed with grief.” But he threw himself into the Denise D’Ascenzo Foundation and found great comfort in the project he knew Denise would be proud and honored by.

“What we wanted more than anything was to do good things in her honor,” he said.

D’Ascenzo earned 11 Emmy Awards, two Edward R. Murrow Awards, seven Associated Press Awards, and the prestigious national Gabriel Award.

“Along with her journalistic excellence, Denise is equally remembered for her genuine kindness and tireless efforts on behalf of those facing life’s challenges," the foundation's website reads. "Whether it was co-hosting the Muscular Dystrophy Telethon; interviewing Paul Newman to launch his Hole-in-the-Wall-Gang camp; working on behalf of countless community organizations, including Mary’s Place and Hartford Hospital; or bringing viewers heartwarming stories about the triumph of the human spirit, Denise remained a constant source of light and compassion to all those she touched.”

The foundation’s mission is to “continue Denise’s legacy of love and kindness by supporting advances in medicine and health, women’s and children’s issues, and journalism studies. These were the areas that remained closest to Denise’s heart, and your donation will greatly assist in providing worthy organizations the support they so need.”

When D’Ascenzo was awarded an honorary PhD from Quinnipiac University, she said in her remarks that being open, brave and kind were words she lived by and encouraged others to do the same.

The foundation's board of directors includes her husband, daughter, Lt. Gov. Susan Bysiewicz and Cooke's former co-host, Dennis House. The foundation has awarded grants to Hartford Hospital essential workers, A Center for Grieving Children & Families in Windsor, Connecticut Food Bank and Foodshare and Mary’s Place, among others.

Wayne Cooke said that providing support for groups and agencies close to his wife’s heart has helped his family cope.

“I said to Kathryn that I don't know it there’s been one single hour that I haven’t thought of her," he said. "But the pain isn't always the same. Sometime, it’s guttural pain, a doubling-over, then it’s just a deep sadness and at some point, the pain become something else: you tend to remember things that are not at all painful but joyous, happy. And that lifts you up.”