Mario H. Decristan

After battling congestive heart failure for many years, Mario H. Decristan, age 85, has been called by our Lord and Savior to rest in eternal peace on September 23, 2020, the feast day of St. Padre Pio. 

Mario was born in Montreal, Canada to his Austrian immigrant parents Joseph and Mary Decristan on May 24, 1935. He became a US citizen on July 17, 1951.  

Mario loved this country so much he moved his name up on the draft list during the Korean War and proudly served as a soldier in the US Army from September 17, 1954 to August 24, 1956. He was a member of the Knights of Columbus, Council 2393 and Veterans Administration Post 7858. Of course, Mario met some men that would become lifelong friends who loved him like a brother. When he returned home from military duty, he worked as a splicing foreman at New York Telephone Company for over 30 years. He loved doing his job by helping customers regain service, encouraging his crew to work hard, save money, and to be good people and family members. In December 1960, he attended a Christmas party where he met and fell in love with his soulmate, Marie Napoli. They were married 9 months later, October 7, 1961.This Romeo and Juliet love affair lasted 58 years. She was the apple of his eye, his everything. Marie was the reason Mario lived and loved the way he did. Mario and his wife Marie lived in New York for over 40 years and moved to Basking Ridge, New Jersey in 2002.

Mario was a loving, caring, religious, honest, humorous, happy and outspoken man who always felt compelled to help, teach, care for all he knew. Not only did Mario devoutly love his wife Marie and two daughters, Donna and Julie, he also loved their husbands’, Matthew Coons and Michael Buck as if they were his own sons. Loving them like his own, he was never afraid to tell them how he felt, hug them and kiss them as though they were his own children. Of course, that gregarious, loving and caring man showed us how love continues to grow and expand when he welcomed his four grandchildren Kyle and Danielle Coons and Samantha and Rebecca Buck. He considered the four of them gifts from heaven and the light of his life. This light grew brighter when Samantha married David Vigliotta and, you guessed it, he became his new “grandson”. The sun rises and sets with all of them close at heart and he will be eternally proud of them.

Mario’s gifts of love, compassion, and care extended beyond his family. The culmination of these gifts is best seen through his humor. Mario loved people and loved to make them laugh. He had an extra special place in his heart for anyone that was hurting. He never judged a person by their race, religion, or gender. He always tried to help people by loving them, making them laugh, forgiving them, encouraging them, and inspiring them to be the absolute best they could be. He was a role model in life and will continue to be role model in death. If we only had more men like Mario this world would be a better place. He loved God, Country, Family and Friends.

WE LOVE YOU, MARIO our husband, dad, grandpa, and friend. May you Rest In Peace!

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend the Visitation on Sunday September 27, 2020, from 2-5 pm, at the Parkway Wozniak Memorial Home 211 Westfield Avenue Clark, NJ 07066. A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered on Monday September 28, 2020, at 10 am, from the St. James R.C. Church, Basking Ridge followed by Entombment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Basking Ridge.

In lieu of flowers, kindly offer donations to:  St Jude’s Children’s Hospital stjude.org

or Gary Sinise Foundation garysinisefoundation.org or Center for Hope Hospice Care cfhh.org. 

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