MARY CATANIA HEYWOOD PASSES AWAY

 

Mary Catania Heywood, Class of 1945, passed away in Covina, California. She was 94. 

Mary was the last surviving Catania sibling. They grew up on Thomas Street, next door to the Frank Mangino family that moved to Philadelphia in the 1950s and 2 doors from the Olesky family rental, our last home before Church Street began (where my parents later bought a Consolidation Coal Company House).

Queen of the Heaven funeral home in Rowland Heights, 22 miles from Covina, will handle Mary’s Monday, January 31 services.

Paula Catania, daughter of the late Angelo Catania, Class of 1943, gave me the sad news. Paula retired from Covina’s Martin Brinkerhoff Associates, where she was vice president. 

Covina is 22 miles from Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley. 

Mary met Arthur B. Heywood, Jr. when she worked at Southwest Products. They married in 1972.  Arthur passed away in 2015. 

While living in Monongah, Mary worked at Westinghouse.

Angelo Joseph Catania convinced his 3 siblings and parents Joseph Catania and Teresa Cassucio Catania to move from Thomas Street to Covina, which Angelo fell in love with during his Army Coast Artillery training days of World War II.

Mary; Alex Catania, Class of 1944; and Josephine Catania, Class of 1952, moved to Covina. Carmella wound up in San Antonio because her husband, Omer, still was in the Air Force at the time in the Alamo City. 

Angelo, who passed away in 2016, married Pauline Layne Catania of Monongah, who passed away in 2001. Alex died in 2007, Josephine in 2009 and Carmella in 2017.  

Till they settled in Covina the Catania family stayed with Sam and Mary Pulice, another Monongah family that had moved to Covina.

Angelo and Alex paved over the “ballfield” we used on U.S. 19 across from where Dairy Kone is today to build a Sinclair station when they got out of the military. The station bordered the home of Lawrence and Regina Boone Godby and their children, Lawrence “Sonny” Godby and Jackie Godby.

Alex Catania sponsored the Confirmation of Frank Franze, Class of 1950, who lives in Slidell, Louisiana.

Mary’s obituary, provided to me by Paula Catania: 

MARY CATANIA HEYWOOD, 94, passed away on January 5, 2022, in Pomona, California. Mary was born in Nanty Glo, Pennsylvania but moved, at age 3, to Monongah, West Virginia.

Along with her father, Joseph Catania, mother Teresa Cascuccio Catania and four siblings (Angelo, Alex, Carmella, and Josephine) Mary resided on Thomas Street. She graduated from Monongah High School and worked at Westinghouse and in the family-owned businesses.

In 1955, Mary, her father, mother and sister Josephine followed brother Angelo and his wife, Pauline Layne Catania, to California. Until they got settled, they stayed with Sam and Mary Pulice, also from Monongah. The family took up residence in Covina, California and brother Alex and his wife, Mary Mae Dancer Catania, joined the family the following year.

In California, Mary worked at Southwest Products and it’s there she met her husband, Arthur B. Heywood, Jr. They married in 1972 and settled into a home in Covina.

Mary was a constant caretaker for her family and a devoted member of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Mary is the last of her immediate family and was preceded in death by her parents, husband and all of her siblings. Her service will be January 31, 2022 at Queen of the Heaven Mortuary and Cemetery in Rowland Heights, CA.