‘He was just goodness personified’

Emmanuel “Manny” Giusto, a resident of Oceanside for 57 years and a volunteer at Fulton Avenue School 8 for 18 years, died on Aug. 20 from bladder cancer. He was 91 years old.

Giusto was loved by everyone who knew him. He spent 18 years, from 1993 to 2011, volunteering at School 8, helping first grade teacher Lois Nevitt in her classroom. Nevitt said that Giusto would do everything from tying shoelaces to fixing bookshelves to meeting with parents to talk about their children’s well being.

“Manny was probably the most positive person you’d ever want to meet,” Nevitt said. “He had a wonderful outlook on life. He was here to give to others. He just wanted to make everyone else’s life rich, and in turn the children made his life rich.”

The youngest of seven children, Giusto was born in Brooklyn to Carmela and Thomas on Oct. 2, 1920. In elementary and junior high school, Giusto was not the strongest student. So his counsel recommended he attend East new York Vocational School instead of a traditional high school. Giusto took classes in aircraft and engine mechanics, and he excelled. “I made the Honor Roll and the Dean’s List,” Giusto wrote in a 2006 essay he called “It’s a Wonderful Life.” “I can prove it because my mother saved all the good papers and report cards.”

After graduation, Giusto joined the Navy and served in the European theater in World War II. He worked for the Navy Air Force as the “Gas Master,” refueling all of the planes and also working on maintenance.

On Feb. 8, 1948, Giusto married Marie Viola. Two years later, their son Frank was born, followed by their second son, Thomas, in 1954.

In 1955, the Giusto moved to Oceanside. Frank started attending School 1 (which is now the Schoolhouse Green). The family liked to spend the summer weekends at Jones Beach.

On Oct. 12, 1960, Giusto’s son Frank was taken to the hospital for a bloody nose. The doctors informed the Giustos that Frank had leukemia. “It was the first time I had heard that word,” Giusto wrote. Six weeks later, Frank died.

“It was a devastating time for us,” Giusto wrote. “Children are supposed to bury their parents, not the parents bury the children.”

But in 1964, The Giusto’s third child, their daughter Theresa, was born.