The Catskill Chronicle

Story and photos by Carol Montana

BETHEL, NY (March 19, 2013) – When Alfonso “Funzi” Frangipane speaks at a Lions Club meeting, the last line of his speech is always, “It’s not to be viewed as a commitment, when you do something like this. When you volunteer, you should look at it as an opportunity.”

He should know, because this Bethel resident, along with his wife, Maria seize every opportunity they can to help people. From Radiothons to Lions Clubs, and from selling hearts to raise money for the local Heart-a-thon to screening children for eye problems, if there’s charitable work to be done, Al and Maria are there. 

Brooklyn-born Al quit high school with only three months to go because he was bored and joined the army in October 1957. Discharged two years later (now with his high school diploma), “Funzi” became a professional bowler.

Little did he know when he got a job for a young lady at the Maple Lanes Bowling Alley in Brooklyn, what the outcome would be. In gratitude for the job, she invited Al and his friend to the Fallsburg, NY hamlet of Hasbrouck in February 1964. There he met Maria, about whom he initially asked, “Who’s the snot-nose?” A student at Tri-Valley High School, Maria “had that freedom,” says Al, “’we’re going here and going there’ – how old can this kid be?”

When she was asked what she thought of him, Maria’s response was, “’Number one, he needs to be fattened up.’ He was skinnier than I was.”

They hardly spoke that first weekend, but the spark was lit and in August 1964, Maria went to Brooklyn for a grandparent’s funeral. At some point during the weekend, the couple found themselves at Maple Lanes for coffee. “And while we were there, she asked me out and I said yes,” recalls Al.

Maria sees it a bit differently. “It wasn’t actually out. The family was planning a camping trip for Labor Day weekend, it was going to be my sister, her friend, my cousin and my brother, so I’d be very well protected. Al and I were talking at the bowling alley and I asked what he was doing on Labor Day weekend, and he said probably nothing, and I said would you like to join us on a camping trip. We were going to Willowemoc for three days.”

At the time, Al had a reputation as a womanizer. But there was something about Maria that reined him in, so to speak. “When we started going upstate on weekends, my buddy said ‘That’s it, he’s done, he’s through, his career is done.’ And my mom and my older sister, when they met Maria, said, ‘Naw, this is not the one.’ Because I never went out with anyone but a blue-eyed blond, and Maria’s a dark-haired brunette with big, brown eyes.”

Long story short, they’ve been together ever since, engaged in November 1965, married in September 1966. And because Al was working in Manhattan Family Court at the time, Maria moved to Brooklyn. After growing up in the country, Brooklyn “was devastation,” she says.

“We spent 10 years in Brooklyn,” relates Al. “We bought a house as a summer home. For two months, I kept thinking about what my father-in-law did. He commuted, because he moved his family up here and he worked for the city. He was a weekend husband. And I kept thinking, ‘Can I do that, can I do that?’ I had 18 years before I could retire. Denise (their oldest daughter) was going to be 8. So one day, we’re at my father-in-law’s house in  Woodbourne where Maria was raised, and we’re playing cards. Denise was on my lap, and I looked at her and said, ‘How would you like to go to school up here?’ She looked at me, and went into the other room and said to her mother, ‘Daddy just asked me if I wanted to go to school up here.’ Maria comes flying through the door, ‘Are you serious?’ So I commuted for 18 years. I had an apartment down there. I had a lot of latitude. I didn’t go in every  day, I didn’t leave here till Monday morning, and the last few years I had a four-day week. They made it easier than it could have been, but Maria was mom and dad for 18 years. Boy Scouts, Little League, Brownies, Girl Scouts, PTA President – she did it all. My life story revolves around her.”

Maria and the three children: Denise – 8, Claudia – 6 and Nicholas – 3, moved to Sullivan County in 1976. Al commuted to Manhattan.

Maria worked as a legal secretary and in real estate, all the while becoming intensely involved in the community. “I started to make friends and they would meet my husband on weekends,” she explains. “All the friends meetings were at my house, barbecues, Sunday dinners, snowball fights. One day we woke up and it was snowing like crazy, and it was absolutely beautiful. And I said ‘Let’s build a snowman.’ I called a friend and they came over and we had a Sunday dinner. We took a gallon of Gallo Burgundy and stuck it in the snow. That was at our first Bethel house on Cooper Drive. It was ‘Maria and Funzi’s’ house – that was the place, confirmations, communions, graduation, New Year’s Eve parties … any excuse to have a party. Every weekend … nobody called up, they just showed up and the kids loved it.”

Funzi retired in 1995 at 56 years old. “I loved my job, I loved everybody. I spent 10 days with John Steinbeck when he was a respondent in Family Court.”

A note about the nickname … “My parents named me Alfonso and started calling me Funzi. My mother almost died having me, I was 10 lbs 14 oz when I was born. And the doctor said my middle name had to be Anthony because the day I was born, “Two Ton” Tony “Anthony” Galento fought Joe Lewis. The doctor said ‘He had a lot of guts getting in the ring to fight Joe Lewis, and your son had a lot of guts to survive.’ That’s how I got my middle name.”

There are days, Al says, when he’s sitting in the dining room with his buddies from Family Court, and “half the table is calling me Al, the other half is calling me Funzi. All my nephews and nieces call me Uncle Funzi.”

In much the same way as Maria got involved in the community, Al did, too. One day, daughter Denise, who was involved with Sullivan Renaissance and now serves as the organization’s Program Development Officer, asked her father what he was doing that night. “I went to a meeting and that was the beginning. I got involved with that, I’m 13 years with the Red Cross, the Bethel Lions for the same amount of time. I’m the ALERT chairperson for the Lions for six counties. When something happens I partner up the Lions with the Red Cross, I train them and they respond to shelters. I’m involved with the Bethel First Renaissance program. I was a patient advocate at Catskill Regional Medical Center for a number of years and a fire commissioner with the Kauneonga Lake Fire Department for eight years.”

Maria is in every organization that Al is in, except instead of being a fire commissioner, she’s with the department’s Ladies’ Auxiliary. She’s also the chair of the Sight and Hearing Committee for the Sullivan County Lions Clubs. Maria explains, “It’s called the SEE program – Screening Eyes Early. We go to pre-schools and daycare centers and for children 0 to 5 – as long as haven’t been under a doctor’s care for visual – we screen their eyes with this non-invasive camera that takes a picture behind the eyes. If there’s amblyopia (lazy eye), it’s something that can be detected and taken care of early. There are two cameras in Sullivan County. They cost $6,000 each. Funzi’s great with the camera, he has a steady hand, and I do the paperwork.”

And the couple has fun playing Santa and Mrs. Claus when given the opportunity. “I started in Brooklyn. I am Santa, when I’m in that costume, I’ve been doing it since my 20s.” 

Maria’s activism is all the more astounding when you consider what she’s been through. The 65 year old has had three major spinal surgeries, a double mastectomy, a collapsed lung (three times) and cervical cancer. But it hasn’t slowed her down one bit. “She’s an inspiration, not only to me, but to everyone who knows her,” says Funzi. “I won’t give into it,” Maria declares affirmatively. “If I stop because of this, I’m done.”

The couple is well matched, because Funzi, at the age of 74 is like the Energizer bunny himself. He just keeps going and going … Actively involved in the annual WSUL/WVOS Heart-a-thon, which raises money for the cardio-pulmonary division of Catskill Regional Medical Center, Al has yet another nickname. “They call me “The Heart Man” because I deal with the hearts.” Over 10,000 of the cardboard hearts have been distributed through the years to stores throughout Sullivan County. People donate either $1.00 or $10.00 depending on the color of the heart. They write a message and it gets hung in the business where they donated.

In addition to the Heart-a-thon, Al has been involved with the Thunder 102 Country Cares for Kids St. Jude Radiothon, the Committee for the Families of Iraqi and Afghanistan War Veterans Radiothon, the Haiti Earthquake Relief Radiothon, Toys for Tots, and many other charitable causes. “People respond,” says Al.  “Sometimes I walk into a place and people say ‘how much.’ It’s good, it shows that people trust me …  They know if I’m there, I’m supporting a cause and it’s a good thing. I do bowl-a-thons for the Red Cross, the Lions, for Bethel First, and I do golf outings. Half of the proceeds go to Lions for outreach programs, and Camp Badger – a summer camp for sight impaired – and for the last three years the other half goes to support the D.A.R.E.  program. … I know where to draw the line. If I’m having a bowl-a-thon and a golf outing in the same year, I’m not going to tap the same person twice in one year. The same thing with the Heart-a-thon pledges. This is my 10^th year doing the hearts. I co-chaired the Heart-a-thon twice.”

The living room of Al and Maria’s Bethel home is decorated with awards from many organizations. Maria was given the Lions Foundation Melvin Jones Fellow (the highest award you can get as a Lion) for dedicated humanitarian service. Al has been given the Robert J. Uplinger Distinguished Service Award from the Bethel Lions, a 2011 Sullivan First Achievement Award, and Heart-a-thon Awards from 2005, 2006, 2007 and more. They are inscribed to: Al “Heart Man” Frangipane. And there are awards from the Town of Bethel Town Board and Youth Board and a 2008 and 2008 Citizen of the Year Award to both Al and Maria.

The couple now has four grandchildren, so one might wonder where they find the time to do so much work for their community. “We work it out,” says Al, “She attends a meeting and I’ll stay home if we have to for the grandchildren. … we make the time. And helping people is the right thing to do. I couldn’t do it without Maria’s support. She supports what I do and she’s involved with what I do.”

It’s a mutual support system, born of love and respect that benefits the community in so many, many ways.