WESTFIELD: Thomas F. Pitoniak Sr., (1924-2014) of Westfield, died Tuesday, Dec. 2, at the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home, one day shy of his 90th birthday. He was a lifelong resident of Westfield and now joins his beloved wife, Catherine Jean McDonnell Pitoniak, who predeceased him in 2007. Thomas was born to Slovak immigrants Baltazar Pitoniak and Elizabeth Mihlik Pitoniak and raised on a dairy farm in the Mundale section of Westfield. He graduated from Westfield Trade School in 1943 and then served in the U.S. Navy during World War II as an aviation machinist’s mate, second class, mostly at Barbers Point Naval Base in Hawaii. He and his three brothers, Stephen, Joseph, and John, all served their country during the war. After the war Thomas attended the University of Massachusetts,including at Fort Devens, Mass. He graduated with a degree in animal husbandry and went on to receive training and state certification in health and sanitation. He worked as a plant managerat Liptak’s Pure Dairy in Westfield, as health inspector for the City of Westfield, and as part-time inspector for the Town of Southwick. In 1972 he started his own business conducting soil tests and repairing, designing, and installing septic systems. He was active in that business for the next 25 years. Thomas was also a man of broad interests. He was once named Poet Laureate of the City of Westfield for the many clever poems he would write when municipal figures would retire. The late and legendary Tom O’Neill was one of his closest friends in these many years of municipal service and the two of them together swore countless individuals into service as notaries public, including Thomas’s eldest daughter. Thomas was an expert in Westfield history, including the famed Allyn murder of his long-ago predecessor in the Health Department, and Westfield’s rich theater history. He discussed the local theaters and opera houses on WNNZ Radio, in talks to the Senior Center and area historical societies, and at the Westfield Athenaeum. He and his wife Catherine were devoted fans and benefactors of the Tanglewood Music Center and the Sevenars concert series and loved to attend plays in New York City. In retirement they enjoyed visiting their son Edward and his family in Whistler and Vancouver, British Columbia, staying in Vancouver at their beloved Sylvia Hotel on English Bay, where Thomas would gaze with his binoculars at the ships his granddaughters dubbed “Papa’s Navy,” or take long walks around the seawall of that city’s stunning Stanley Park. Thomas cherished his children and grandchildren, and enjoyed family beach vacations in Old Lyme, Conn., and Martha’s Vineyard. Thomas had the smarts of an engineer and the soul of a poet, with a good deal of humorist thrown in for good measure. It was a family tradition to list one’s three least-favorite things, and into that category Thomas placed onions, garlic, and busy Route 9 in Hadley. The Pitoniak family would like to express their most profound appreciation and thanks to the incredible staff of the Holyoke Soldiers’ Home; their compassion and skill are beyond compare. The Pitoniaks would also like to thank the Arbors in Westfield for the many years of wonderful care they also took of him. Besides Catherine, Thomas was predeceased by his siblings Joseph, Jenny, Annie, and Steve. He leaves his brother John, also of Westfield and the Soldiers’ Home; his sister Dorothy Taudel, of Westfield; his son Edward and wife Kate Barber, of Exeter, R.I.; his daughter Mary Jean, of Pennington, N.J.; his son Thomas Jr. and wife Kathy, of Westfield; his daughter Elizabeth, of Westfield; his daughter Clare Pitoniak-Morse and husband Bob Morse, of Shirley, Mass.; 12 grandchildren; and an eagerly awaited great-grandson who will no doubt hear many loving tales of this sweet and multifaceted man.The funeral will be held Saturday, beginning at 11 a.m. at Firtion-Adams Funeral Home in Westfield, with Mass at 12 noon at St. Peter & St. Casimir Parish on State Street in Westfield and burial to follow at St. Mary Cemetery in Westfield.Calling hours are Friday, 5 p.m.–8 p.m. Memorial contributions may be made to St. Peter & St. Casimir Parish, 22 State St., Westfield, MA 01085, or to the Soldiers’ Home in Holyoke, 110 Cherry St., Holyoke, MA 01040. firtionadams.com
