Virginia Passaro

Virginia M. Passaro, 96, passed away peacefully on July 1, 2024 at Fairfield County House in Stamford, CT. Born in 1927 in Spanish Harlem, NYC, she was the daughter of the late Maria Volpe Meli and Joseph Meli. As a young girl Virginia loved the settlement houses of those neighborhoods, playing basketball and the
usual childhood fun. She used to receive free movie passes due to her father’s business relationships and loved going to the theater. One of her fond memories was lighting the oven for her Jewish neighbors, the Newmans, on the sabbath. The Meli family moved to Stamford, CT on December 6, 1941. Virginia graduated from Stamford High School with the class of 1945 and soon after she married her beloved husband, Whitey. Whitey purchased their home in 1948 and Virginia has lived at that same address until her passing. Following high school, she worked for a time at the Yale & Towne Manufacturing Co. where she met ten women there who became lifelong friends and started what they called the “Y and T Club”. They were all involved in each other’s lives, celebrating all of life’s occasions, good and bad, with Virginia being the second to last remaining
member.
She is predeceased by her husband Francis “Whitey” Passaro; her daughter Jane Ann; brothers Natale Meli, Peter A. Meli and Vincent Meli; and sisters Mary B. Fiore and Theresa (Tess) Angelini. She is survived by her loving son Francis R. Passaro, Jr., and by many loving nieces, nephews, and grandnieces and nephews. Virginia and Whitey were an exemplary model of a loving, unconditional marriage through good and bad, always family first, but with her husband being captain of the football team (SHS class of 1945) and then a Stamford, CT Firefighter, that family was quite extensive.
Friends and family may call from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.on Sunday, July 7th at the Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home & Crematory, 104 Myrtle Ave., Stamford, CT 06902. A mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, July 8th at The Church of St. Cecilia, 1184 Newfield Ave, Stamford, CT 06905. The
interment will follow at St. John Cemetery in Darien, CT.
It is hard to express how our family feels and those of her many friends; people were always attracted to Virginia – not only for her physical beauty, but for the love, compassion and caring she projected to all of us. Her light shines so bright the family is consoled by the fact that she will be showing us the way into that
next step of life – and that light is blinding. We know you will be waiting and will clear the way for all of us.
Virginia loved receiving flowers BUT donations would also be greatly appreciated and can be made in
her name to Fairfield County House, 1 Den Rd., Stamford, CT 06902 or by visiting www.fairfieldcountyhouse.
org/support-us
To leave a message of condolence online please visit the obituary on www.cognetta.com.