John Roy Manasso – “Roy” to his friends; “John” to his business associates – was born March 23, 1944, in New York City to Joseph Albert, a butcher, and Concettina “Connie” (Gragnano) Manasso, a homemaker, in Manhattan’s Lower East Side and passed quickly on Sept. 10.
Themselves first-generation Americans whose parents immigrated from southern Italy at the turn of the century, Joey and Connie were determined that their only child would have an American name and an American upbringing. (Legend has it that Connie wanted his first name to be Roy but since there was no “St. Roy,” the local Catholic church wouldn’t allow it, thus, the middle name solution.) Roy grew up a self-described street kid in Little Italy, collecting comic books (now in the possession of his grandson Joey), watching cowboy movies, playing stick ball, betting on horses (borrowing at times from local neighborhood “money lenders” from whom, according to legend, he had to hide out once or twice), and hanging out at the local pool hall.
In 1962, he graduated from LaSalle Academy, where he played on the basketball team that lost in the city championship to Power Memorial when, according to legend, he shared the same court as Lew Alcindor, the future basketball hall of famer. In February of that providential year, he met his salvation, Jacqueline Maria Greco, when she and a friend came to the pool hall selling raffle tickets. She knew him as Joe the Butcher’s son. Naturally, their first date was a New York Rangers game at the old Madison Square Garden.
Roy loved the Rangers, the Giants and the Yankees and, despite living more than half his life in New England – he was always a New Yorker (with the accent to prove it), never a New Englander – hated the Red Sox, the Patriots, the Celtics and the Bruins. (He also hated the Dodgers from their Brooklyn days.)
He graduated from Pace College with a degree in marketing in 1966 and he and Jackie married on Sept. 9 the following year and remained wed for 52 wonderful years.
At first, she worked as a secretary on Wall Street, he worked in Midtown Manhattan for Eastern Airlines and they settled in Brooklyn, in part, to put a river between themselves and Connie. On Dec. 22, 1968, Jackie gave birth to daughter Lauren, who was showered in hula dresses, love, and lavish clothes. On Sept. 29, 1972, their son John Joseph was born and, raised with his father’s love of sports, made a career as a sports writer for more than two decades. In time for Lauren to begin kindergarten, the young family pursued the American Suburban Dream and moved to the New Jersey suburbs, where Roy once dared his young son to stick his face in a tire swing and then, improbably from across the yard, hit the target in the kisser with an old leather football, much to his wife’s chagrin. Alyson was born into the family on June 23, 1977, and, received all of the love and spoiling from her father that was destined for the baby of the family. She inherited his stubbornness and love of New York teams, much to her future husband’s chagrin.
The Manassos continued their story a few months after Aly’s birth in Franklin, Mass., when Roy was transferred and the family was promptly greeted by one of the worst blizzards in the region’s history. Having left Eastern Airlines, Roy worked for Air New Zealand and often spent weeks at a time in the South Pacific, where he pursued his lifelong love of travel. According to legend, he and a golf partner once barely escaped with their heads affixed to their necks when an errant shot nearly hit an indigenous person in Papua, New Guinea, an island where cannibalism was known to have been practiced until relatively recently. The family’s split level home in Franklin was filled with artifacts from these trips – a kangaroo-skin rug, lamb-skin rugs, photos of kiwi birds and an infamous framed print of a Gaugin painting depicting a topless woman – along with mirth and merriment.
In the mid-80s, Roy and Jackie purchased and successfully ran two travel agencies. When John went off to college in 1990, Roy sent him letters, usually several pages long, almost daily, typed in all caps and with little punctuation – the latter a trend he continued with the advent of email. Roy and Jackie later retired to Scarborough, Maine, which they loved for the marshes, rocky beaches and friendly neighbors. According to legend, once in a chocolate shop, Roy was accidentally hit in a sensitive area by his youngest grandchild and doubled over in pain while in the presence of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, a resident of nearby Cape Elizabeth.
Roy loved hot dogs, red sauce (gravy) on his pasta, baseball, westerns, ice cream, doo-wop, Johnny Mathis, Native American art, his wife, his children, their spouses and grandchildren and his dogs, Honey, Nippy and Murphy. He hated garlic, vegetables, being told to do anything, held grudges (often over perceived slights), and had a temper.
He is survived by Jackie, John, Aly, son-in-laws Bobby and Byron, his daughter-in-law Christie and his beloved grandchildren Joey, Sam, Giuliana and Mady. He is preceded in death by Lauren. He was the best husband, father and grandfather his wife, children and grandchildren could hope for and will be missed terribly.
Relatives and friends are invited to attend his funeral Tuesday Sept. 17th, at 9AM from the Charles F. Oteri and Son Franklin Funeral Home 33 Cottage St. followed by a funeral Mass in St. Mary's Church, 1 Church Square, Franklin at 10AM.
Interment will follow at St. Mary's Cemetery.
Calling hours are Monday Sept. 16th, from 4-8PM at the funeral home.