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.
³It¹s sad, but happy too,² she said. ³He had no regrets in life. He had everything he wanted. That makes it easier.²
Ingenito, 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 known as 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 snowstorm in which he worked 12 hours, and came home to take Laura, then 5, sledding at Malverne High School. Then there was Tom¹s 12th birthday, when Ingenito drove with the family in a blizzard to Buffalo so Tom could see the Jets play the Bills. He recently took Nancy to Fenway Park to see their beloved Yankees take on the Red Sox. He proudly wore his Yankees cap and shirt amid the Boston sea of red, and laughed off every creative insult directed his way by Sox fans.
³He was so much fun to be around,² Nancy said. ³He was my buddy. We did so much together.²
If family was Ingenito¹s passion, sports ran a close 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 the two days of the wake.
As evidenced by the 700-plus people who paid their respects at Franklin Funeral Home for his wake, 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. Ingenito¹s colleague of more than 20 years, Ken Bachman, said Ingenito often planned fishing trips to Captree State Park and theme parties in his backyard.
³He was a terrific, wonderful person,² Bachman said. ³He sat with me and my mom when she passed. Anything you needed help with, he was there.²
KeySpan is still investigating what caused Ingenito¹s death. Ginny said she is grateful
to the two workers, Howie Legore and Stan Hack, who risked injury by jumping in the manhole and pulling him out.
³They¹re so distraught,² Ginny said. ³I¹m so grateful to them for trying.²
Ginny tries to steer her thoughts away from the circumstances surrounding her husband¹s death, and toward the 20-plus years of marriage they shared and the three children they brought into the world.
³He was a great father,² said Ginny, a nurse in Winthrop University Hospital¹s maternity unit. ³I always said, that¹s what he was put on this earth to do.²
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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