Edward C. Giombetti

It is with the heaviest of hearts that we regretfully announce the passing of Edward C. Giombetti, lifelong resident of Jessup. His 99-year journey ended on Jan. 31, 2023, in the exact same room where it all began on Oct. 24, 1923.

Eddie, as he was known by most, was the son of Pietro Giombetti and Virginia Micheletti Giombetti of Fossato Di Vico, Italy.

As a young boy, he discovered a love for two of his most favorite pastimes that would last his entire lifetime, baseball and picking blueberries.

As a young child during the depression, Eddie was required to help his parents to make ends meet by running a small grocery store and tending to the farm animals. One of his jobs during the summer months was to go up to the flats on Jessup Mountain near Moosic Lakes to pick wild blueberries. Some days he would pick 20 quarts by hand and then would walk the four miles back home carrying his filled buckets. These berries would be sold for six cents a quart at the store. For nearly the next 90 years, there would never be another summer that he didn't pick berries.

When he was not helping his parents, he could be found on the dirt patch baseball fields of Jessup. The youngest of nine siblings, he grew up playing ball with his nephews and cousins who were all older than him. They all made their own baseballs and gloves from old shoe leather and canvas mine bags, and bats from pieces of mine timber. They would keep the balls playable by covering them in tape given to them by the Coal Train conductors that passed right through his front yard.

Like many of his generation, the Great Depression taught him to have a strong sense of helping others. He always would offer a helping hand and never had a bad word about anyone.

As World War II broke out, that urge to help saw him move away from his childhood home to New Jersey. While there he lived with his sister and joined the war effort at American Type Founders of Elizabeth, N.J. At this company he made the assemblies and tubes for 60mm mortar small artillery.

On Oct. 8, 1943, he entered the United States Army and spent the next few months at Camp Croft in South Carolina. This camp was one of many infantry replacement training centers stationed around the country, they provided the basic training for combat. Soon, Eddie was on his way to the war front. He sailed on the Queen Elisabeth and arrived in Scotland in July 1944. It is there, he received his assignment to join the Company I of the 9th Infantry Regiment in the 2nd Infantry Division as a member of a mortar team. Using the very same mortars that he had built a year earlier in New Jersey.

On Aug. 8, 1944, he entered combat in Belgium and soon found himself attacking a naval base in Brest, France. Here, his Jessup High School education would come in handy. Since he spoke fluent French and Italian, he was asked to help translate information provided by the locals on the ground. This information would be used to help in the liberation of the city. He would often tell the story of finding an abandoned enemy tunnel in Brest. In there he and his fellow soldiers found a kitchen that was filled with food. They were able to rest and enjoyed eating sardines that were left by the captured German soldiers. His full tour of duty included the Battle of the Bulge and the start of the final allied offensive back into Germany.

When he talked about the Battle of the Bulge, the memories of the cold and having to dig fox holes in the frozen ground were recalled as if they had happened yesterday. It was in one of those foxholes that he received his first combat injury when a soldier dove on top of him and a gun went off next to his head. He would soon return to combat with his team. As the Allied Forces regained the upper hand, his division would begin the push into Germany. On Feb. 10, 1945, while on the offensive near Aachen, Germany, he received wounds that sent him to hospitals in Paris and Camp Upton in New York. Though the war ended soon thereafter, it stayed with him for 78 years, certain sounds and smells would bring him back to those foxholes.

Upon his return from military service, he met Helen Pauletti, by chance at a dance a block from his home. That red brick building on Church Street in Jessup would be where the next chapter of his life would begin. It was not long after that encounter, on Nov. 6, 1947, they married. That red brick building would be pointed out to anyone with him every time he passed by it.

In the late 1940s, coal was still king in Lackawanna Valley, he took a job with Mastrianni Construction and Harry Giombetti Coal Company. The owner of the company was Eddie's first cousin. Though he was never an underground miner; he did work in the dangerous breaker sorting coal and pulling non-coal out of the moving belts. Every summer the mines would shut down, the owners would send him to work as a mason and carpenter at other projects. His work can still be found at the dam that forms Lake Genaro Resort in Hamlin, a private lake once owned by the coal company. The love of working with concrete was another constant in his life. If anybody in the neighborhood or a family member needed concrete work to be done, you would find him there with his mixing box and a shovel. No one was allowed to buy pre-mixed concrete. The sand would be hand dug near the Little League fields in Jessup and the stones picked and washed. From sidewalks to driveways, he hand mixed hundreds of yards in his life.

To say baseball was part of his life would be an understatement. A lifelong Yankee fan, he would never miss a game on TV and enjoyed going to PNC Field to see a game. In his younger days, he was regarded as one of the best local pitchers of his time. Though Eddie was never one to like the spotlight on him, he would always point out his trophies and newspaper clippings that still adorn his living room. His pitching style was odd for his time, he was a sidearm knuckle ball pitcher, that pitch earned him the nickname, Steady Eddie. He had numerous undefeated seasons while playing in the association. He once pitched over 44 innings straight without giving up a walk. Our area's local legend, Nestor Chylak, one of only 10 umpires in the Baseball Hall of Fame, once introduced "Steady Eddie" to the other umpires of the 1978 ALL-Star Game in San Diego, as one of the best pitchers he ever umpired. Eddie and Helen were his guests at the game. Those skills also earned him the opportunity to play a year of minor league baseball in Carlton, Georgia, but only after one season, Helen and Jessup were calling him home.

Eddie came home and started his lifelong career with Daystrom Industries, which later became Lockheed Martin, nearly 35 years until he retired in 1987. Eddie retired as one of the lead cost accountants and payroll clerk for the company. A self-taught accountant, he learned by using old correspondent school books. Even after being retired for 37 years, he still remembered most employees by name and clock number and when he would see one, he would call them by their clock number.

Helen, his wife of 54 years and the love of his life, passed away on Christmas day 2001. They were the proud parents of three children, baby Joseph who passed away shortly after birth; and daughter, Sharon and husband, Anthony Wrightson; and son, Edward Giombetti Jr.

Eddie has two grandsons, Brian and his wife, Maria Elisa Giordano-Wrightson and EJ Wrightson; six great-grandchildren, Victoria Rodriguez, Alexa Wrightson, Zack Wrightson, Kyle Glucksnis, Jordan Zezeski and Liam Wrightson; and great-great-grandson, Beau Castellani.

The kitchen in his house was the hub of the family and where he became known for his baking and cooking. It was where Sundays meant pasta and meatballs and birthday gifts were always accompanied by scratch-off lottery tickets. In this kitchen, Eddie and Helen would bake fruitcakes, cookies, make homemade pasta and can blueberries to be delivered to people all over the area. After the passing of Helen, Eddie carried on the tradition of making fruitcakes. Some years he would make over 300, seven at a time in that kitchen. He would often sell them and donated the proceeds to a needy family or friend.

Until falling ill, he maintained a large vegetable garden. He had every type of vegetable that would grow. Even if he didn't eat them, he knew someone who did and would deliver them himself without expecting anything in return. By far, his favorite plants were his zucchini and pumpkin plants, but mainly to harvest the flowers. On most summer days those flowers were battered and fried. If he was unable to keep up with demand, he would pick more from his neighbor's gardens.

Eddie drove until he was 97 and was a constant at Valley View baseball and softball games. He rarely missed a little league or softball game played in the field next to his house.

Knowing Eddie was knowing there would be a chance that at any given moment he may reach in his pocket and pull out a slice of his homemade pizza. Neatly wrapped in aluminum foil, many coaches were treated to these gifts. If it was not pizza, you may be offered a pack of cheese and peanut butter crackers or a York Peppermint Patty. Food was always a big part of his life, and something that always was shared.

He was a proud lifetime member of Jessup VFW Post 5544 and originally a member of Scranton VFW Post 25, and also a member of the American Legion Michael Steiner Post 411, Disabled Veterans of America and Jessup Youth Sports Association.

Eddie was preceded in death and is finally reunited with his wife, Helen; son, Joseph; brother, Peno; and his sisters, Cisare Giombettii, Antonetta Monarchi, Corinda Giombetti, Olga Castellani, Josephine Odorico, Emma Marzani, Helen Monarchi and Celia Cappellini; his great-grandson, Zack Wrightson; and his best friends and Thursday night Pietro's dinner buddies, Robert Scassellati and Gino Damiani.

The world is a much better and brighter place because of Eddie's life and the way he lived it. Eddie will be profoundly missed by all who knew him and the end of this journey has left a huge hole in our hearts.

The family would like to thank the Hospice of the Sacred Heart for the comfort provided. Many hugs to Lois, Carol, Mike and Carla for your help and the care you gave him in his time of need and a very special thank you to Chedda for providing the dignity and kindness he so deserved. You were the right person at the right time. You made him laugh and even sing.

The funeral will be Monday at 9 a.m. from the Arthur A. Albini Funeral Home, 1003 Church St., Jessup, with Mass of Christian Burial at 10 a.m. in Queen of Angels Parish at St. Michael's Church, First Avenue, Jessup. Interment with military honors will follow in St. John's Cemetery, Jessup. Friends and family may pay their respects Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. in the funeral home.

To honor Eddie, please don't send flowers, make a donation to Jessup Youth Sports Association or a veteran's organization of your choice. In addition, to honor Eddie and all those that have served, the next time you see a veteran, make sure to go out of your way to shake their hand and tell them thank you.

Please visit the funeral home website to leave an online condolence.