Mr. Anthony Allan Amenta

We were saddened to learn that Anthony Allan Amenta, a long time native of Middletown, Connecticut, recently passed away. He was 87 years old and is survived by his wife Mary Bonvino Amenta and their three children, who all reside on the Central Coast of California. Allan and Mary were both born in Middletown. Two of their children are also Connecticut natives.
Allan attended the local schools and graduated from Middletown High School in 1942. He was very interested in sports and played football and baseball there. At the same time he developed his writing skills as a sports writer for the M. ddletown Press and the Wesleyan University Argus.
Soon after graduation from high school, Allan enlisted in the US Navy and served for over three years as a Radio Instructor until the end of the war. Soon after his return to Middletown, Allan enrolled as a student at Wesleyan University and was a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He earned his Bachelor of Arts and Master's degrees there. He was an outstanding student, received several academic awards and scholarships, but his research and writing ofthe history of the philosopher Homer, all done in Greek, earned him an exceptional ranking in his graduation class.
Allan continued his writing career in Connecticut with the Hartford Courant and Pratt & Whitney Aircraft, and then with his wife Mary moved to Philadelphia. After many years there, Allan and family moved to Southern California where he eventually retired as a Professor at California State University in Long Beach. He taught courses in film and scriptwriting and was very active with his own writing for va ious publications and corporations.
Throughout his life, however, Allan carried a love for music that began as a boy in Middletown (his father, Salvatore Amenta was a dance band musician). As a young man, Allan played drums with several of the popular bands throughout Connecticut. He played in Navy bands during WW II, and continued playing drums and piano in clubs in California. He wrote a number of songs and has had several published. He loved jazz and was never far from a piano.
Allan's funeral was arranged by his family at Bakersfield National Cemetery in Arvin, California.
Allan was truly a learned man and he and his skills will be greatly missed by his family and his many friends.