By Brian Zanzonico
There were tears when she came across photos of Joe Ingenito from high school, before she knew him, without his familiar salt and pepper goatee. Tears when she came across snapshots of their early years together and faded wedding photos of him with his brothers and late sister. Then she found images of him with their three children.
"It's sad, but happy too," Ginny said. "He had no regrets in life. He had everything he wanted. That makes it easier."
Ingenito, a former resident of Franklin Square and Elmont who lived with his family in Malverne, was killed June 30 when he was electrocuted while working in a manhole in Point Lookout. A cable splicer for KeySpan, Ingenito was employed by the company for more than 25 years, dating back to when it was the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO).
He worked long hours, Ginny said, but always found time for children Nancy, 20; Tom, 19; and Laura, 8. There was the time he worked 12 hours in a snowstorm and hurried home to take Laura, then 5, sledding at Malverne High School. Then there was Tom's 12th birthday, when Ingenito drove with the family in a blizzard to Buffalo so Tom could see the Jets play the Bills. Ingenito recently took Nancy to Fenway Park to see their beloved Yankees take on the Red Sox, proudly wearing his Yankees cap and shirt amid the Boston sea of red. Always good-natured, he laughed off every creative insult Sox fans directed his way.
"He was so much fun to be around," Nancy said. "He was my buddy. We did so much together."
If family was Ingenito's passion, sports second. He played softball and bowled in his 20s, and coached his children in soccer and basketball years later. An ardent fan of the Yankees, Giants and Rangers, Ingenito had every radio in the house locked into WFAN, his favorite sports talk radio station. At his wake, one of his nephews tucked a transistor radio tuned to WFAN next to him in the casket, and it played throughout.
As evidenced by the 700-plus people who paid their respects at Franklin Funeral Home, the KeySpan trucks draped in purple bunting that shut the Southern State Parkway the day of his funeral and the line of KeySpan employees that lined St. Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, hard hats over their hearts, Ingenito was popular among coworkers. Ingenito's colleague of more than 20 years, Ken Bachman, said Ingenito often planned fishing trips to Captree State Park and theme parties in his backyard.
"He was a wonderful person," Bachman said. "He sat with me and my mom when she passed. Anything you needed help with, he was there."
KeySpan is still investigating what caused Ingenito's death. Ginny said she is grateful to the two workers, Howie Legore and Stan Hack, who risked injury by jumping in the manhole to pull him out.
"They're so distraught," Ginny said. "I'm so grateful to them for trying."
Ginny tries to steer her thoughts away from the circumstances surrounding her husband's death, and toward the 20-plus years of marriage they shared and the three children they brought into the world.
"He was a great father," said Ginny, a nurse in Winthrop University Hospital's maternity unit. "I always said, that's what he was put on this earth to do."
Ingenito is survived by his wife and children; his mother, Tess; brothers John and Bert; sisters-in-law and 12 nieces and nephews. He was predeceased by his father, Alphonse, and sister, Theresa.
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