East Haven WWII Veteran Honored On 105th Birthday With Parade

EAST HAVEN, CT — Anthony Marino was just 2 years old in 1918 when his mother died, a victim of the pandemic that stole millions of lives.

Marino, who turned 105 Thursday, has now survived two global pandemics.

Home bound in his South Strong Street, East Haven house, the former animal control officer for the town, onetime state senate candidate, US Army veteran of World War II and American Legion commander, was honored with a car parade of birthday well-wishers including residents, firefighters, and police officers. And Anthony Marino's niece Suzanne LeBlanc Miranda's friend Mark Wilson from Greenwich in his vintage Greenwich Police Department car.

Two young kids from the neighborhood also delivered handmade birthday cards to Marino.

It was LeBlanc Miranda's Facebook post about her uncle's birthday that brought the parade and well-wishers. She lives in an apartment connected to her uncle's home and helps to care for his also very elderly wife.

Marino, who lives at home and cares for his wife, is “very mentally alert for a man of 105” his son Joe Marino of Illinois told Patch. And when Patch stood with Marino, in his neatly pressed jeans and tweed sport jacket, on his front porch Thursday under a clear blue sky and bright sun, he joked with a reporter about how it’s “wine, women and song” that’s helped keep him going.

Son Joe Marino told Patch earlier in the day that his father, a longtime East Haven resident, was involved in the community politically, socially and civically for decades. And is “so far, surviving this pandemic” after living through the first more than a century ago. He said his father uses a notebook to keep copious track of his medicines and has caregivers from Branford Hills visit regularly as well. But he's quite independent and when Patch spoke to him, despite being very hard of hearing, he was quick-witted, mentally alert and observant.

Marino was the town's animal control officer decades ago.

In East Haven, beginning in the 1950s, Marino held a number of jobs including as a road surveyor and an insurance salesman. He was also a dedicated Democrat, his son said, who once met with then-Sen. John F. Kennedy Jr. in 1960 during Kennedy’s presidential campaign. The family still has the photograph.

And he ran for state senate in the 1960s.

His family has kept a 1975 letter congratulating Marino on being named Harry R. Bartlett Post 89 American Legion commander by then-Gov. Ella Grasso.

A century ago, Marino lost his mother to the pandemic of 1918

The Marino family provided this circa 1917 photograph of 1-year-old Anthony and his family, his father, mother and three siblings, Freddie, Bea, and Tessie.

After his mother died in the 1918 pandemic, Joe Marino said his father and three siblings lived temporarily in an orphanage in New York City until reunited with their father and his second wife.

A century later

Thursday, as he smiled and waved to those shouting “Happy Birthday,” Marino said he regrets not being able to see his son and other family that live out-of-state due to the pandemic. His son Joe Marino told Patch that he used to visit his father a couple of times a year but the coronavirus scuttled those trips.

When it was suggested to Anthony Marino Thursday that he’d hopefully see family who live far away on his 106th birthday, he said he wasn't sure he’d “be here.”

"That’s OK,” he said.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Marino, and thank you for your service to your community and your nation from us here at Patch.