Sebastiano Rafala

Sebastiano Rafala, formerly of Middletown, passed away at the Mary Wade Nursing Home in New Haven on Monday the 23rd of January. Born in Mellili, Sicily, Italy, he immigrated to the United States in the early 1960s and settled in Connecticut. He lived in Durham for a short time, where he met Linda Louise Kelley, who lived next door. They married in 1965 and moved to Middletown where they started a family. Sebastiano worked construction, building schools and many of the overpasses on Route 9, and, finally, he worked as a machinist at Aerospace Techniques, making parts for military aircraft and NASA's space shuttle program until his retirement.

As a father, he worked hard to give his children the life he never had, including opportunities for education and lives free from war, as the Second World War had defined so much of his own childhood. When he wasn't working, he was outside, tending his vegetable garden, making wine, or taking his boys fishing in Old Saybrook.

He is preceded in death by his wife, Linda Louise Kelley Rafala and his parents Carmelo and Lucia Rafala, also of Middletown. His brother, Salvatore, has been missing since 1966. Survivors include his three children, Lucia, Carmelo, Marco, and three grandchildren, Isabella Rose, Abby, and Eric. He is also survived by a brother, Angelo Rafala, and three sisters, Josephine Monarca, Maria Petracca, and Bianca Petracca, as well as several nieces and nephews.

A service was held at 10:00am on February 3rd at D'Angelo's Funeral Home at 22 South Main Street, Middletown. Burial was at 11:30 at All Saints Cemetery at 300 Middletown Avenue, North Haven. His family organized three memorial masses, one in Melilli, Sicily, at the Chiesa Madre, and two in Middletown at Saint Sebastian Church.