Walter Casey

Walter S. Casey of Stamford, a U.S. Navy veteran whose military service was among his proudest accomplishments, died peacefully on July 11 at Stamford Hospital, surrounded by family. He was 93 and had been in declining health.
Walter was the last and youngest of four children of Joseph A. and Mary Kelly Casey, Irish immigrants who raised their family on Grigg Street in Greenwich, CT., when the street was a mostly Irish enclave.
As a boy, he used to hang around the vaudeville theater on Greenwich Avenue, which later became a movie theater and today is a retail store. There, Walter met such performers as Tallulah Bankhead, Lucille Ball, Ray Bolger, and Bob Hope and collected their autographs.
Walter graduated from Greenwich High School in 1950, where he received a certificate of merit for outstanding photography, which became a lifelong hobby. He joined the U.S. Navy as a seaman in 1951, serving at the submarine base in Groton, CT. when the USS Nautilus was launched, and then at the Boston Navy Yard, where he took care of reserve ships for aircraft carriers. Honorably discharged from the Navy in 1954, he received a National Defense Service Medal and the veterans’ wartime service medal from the state of Connecticut.
Returning to civilian life, Walter worked for 32 years as a custodian at North Street School and four other Greenwich schools. He was an inveterate storyteller and a beloved fixture at family gatherings. He loved to tinker around the house and was an avid newspaper reader, keenly alert to domestic political developments and entertainment gossip.
Rarely without a Navy cap and jacket, Walter was involved in and honored by many local military veterans’ and fraternal organizations, including Ancient Order of Hibernians (50 years), Knights of Columbus (fourth degree), Byram Veterans (color guard), American Legion Post 29 and Red Men’s Home Assn. One year, he was grand marshal of the Memorial Day parade.
He is survived by his wife, Doris Gostomski Casey; a daughter, Maureen Casey Lucier; a granddaughter, Samantha Lucier; seven nieces and nephews; and several grand nieces and nephews.
The viewing will be Friday, July 19, from 9-10:30 a.m. at Nicholas F. Cognetta Funeral Home, 104 Myrtle Ave., Stamford, CT., 06902, with a prayer service at 10:30 a.m. Burial will follow at St. John’s Cemetery, Darien, CT. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Nathaniel Witherell Nursing Home or Knights of Columbus, both in Greenwich, CT.