At 18, Gene Passarella headed to war. At 99, the Purple Heart recipient heads to downtown Scranton, ready for his orchestra’s next performance.
He taps his foot and signals for the orchestra to begin.
“1, 2, 3, 4…”
The trombones and trumpets blare, as Passarella conducts the band he has led since the 1950s. The crowd at La Festa Italiana in downtown Scranton came to see Passarella, shot by a sniper in World War II, but known for his music.
As the orchestra plays “Moondance,” members of the audience put down their pizza and porketta sandwiches and dance on Linden Street. For more than one hour, the musicians, part of the Gene Dempsey Orchestra, play music Passarella has arranged over the last seven decades.
“It's like a certain pride. You write something, and you hear it played back… it sounds nice, you know?” he said. “And I love music, there's no question about it.”
Music and war
Passarella grew up on South Bromley Avenue in West Scranton, the second youngest of 12 children born to Italian immigrants James and Saveria Passarella.
The Passarellas loved music. The father played the concertina, a squeezebox smaller than an accordion. He paid 50 cents a lesson for his son Gene to learn the clarinet from a teacher on Jackson Street.
Gene Passarella learned the saxophone, too, playing with his siblings in the 1930s.
He graduated from Central High School in the midst of World War II, drafted to fight on the Western Front.
“It was a class of over 500, and I think 125 of the boys went into the Army,” he said. “Not many came back… I did what every other 18 year old did, and was proud to do it.”
He landed on the beaches in Normandy, France, three days after the initial wave of Allied Forces in June 1944. Later that year, shortly before the Battle of the Bulge commenced, Passarella received the injury that earned him his Purple Heart.
In January 1945, the military released updated casualty numbers and identities. The Scrantonian newspaper reported that in a six-day period, 19 Scranton-area soldiers had been killed, 31 remained missing and 70 were wounded – including Passarella.
As he crossed a snow-covered field near St. Vith, Belgium, a sniper’s bullet pierced his right leg.
He lay on the field for about 15 minutes before an unarmed medical corpsman braved sniper fire to administer first aid, according to newspaper accounts.
He recovered from his injury at a hospital in Nashville, Tennessee. When it was time for his discharge from the Army, he didn’t seek the medals he earned. He was ready to go home.
Passarella returned to Scranton and found a job with the U.S. Postal Service – and love down the street. The younger Louise Colangelo grew up a few houses away from the Passarellas.
“I came back, and she was grown up,” he said.
“I thought he was very cute,” she said. “Yes, he's cute, I would say to myself.”
Love and family
The Passarellas wed in 1952. The announcement in the Scranton Times describes her ice blue satin gown and the ice blue tinted roses and dark blue lilies in her bouquet. Shortly after, he took over a band he had formed with his brothers.
The couple’s daughter, Cathy Van Nort, would often sing with the band and had a career as a music teacher in the Scranton School District. When Passarella retired from the Postal Service 40 years ago, he enjoyed babysitting his two grandsons.
Five years ago, his niece, former state Rep. Karen Boback, arranged for her uncle to finally receive his medals. The Purple Heart and other medals now hang on the wall in his West Scranton home, near old newspaper clippings and photographs of him with his band.
The wedding cake topper the Passarellas used 72 years ago this month sits in a cabinet nearby. He gushes about his bride.
“That's the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me. I mean it sincerely,” he said. “I want everybody to know about it. Without her, I mean nothing, I'd be under the bridge.”
His wife, now 93, speaks up from the other side of the room.
“You're supposed to be talking about music, not about us,” she said, laughing.
‘Couldn’t ask for anything better’
Passarella celebrated his 99th birthday last month during a concert at Scranton’s Nay Aug Park. The crowd sang to him then, and sang again to him at La Festa.
Tim Van Nort, of Archbald, sat next to his grandmother, Louise.
“It's crazy. I mean, I've been watching him my whole life do this. I used to sit up on stage when I was a little kid, and now I have to help him get up on stage,” Van Nort said. “But, no, it's great. I'm thrilled that he could still do it.”
Many people assume Passarella’s last name is Dempsey because of the Gene Dempsey Orchestra name. But, as the story goes, Passarella’s brother Jimmy got into a fight at the Lackawanna Station, and a passerby said he fought like boxer Jack Dempsey. The name stuck.
The original orchestra members have all died, except Passarella. Chuck Smith has played trombone in the orchestra for more than 50 years and now helps with logistics, including scheduling and finding musicians. He sits directly in front of Passarella on stage and jokes with the conductor before the concert.
“It's amazing,” Smith said. “Well, yet again, he's got a reason to be around. He's an inspiration to all of us.”
Never satisfied with the arrangements the band could purchase, Passarella decided to write the arrangements himself. The band still uses his hand-copied notes.
“Ask my wife, I used to spend most of the days writing music and copying at night,” he said. “I scored them, copied them, rehearsed them and played them.”
At 99, his eyesight keeps him from writing new arrangements. With his right leg – the one wounded in the war – bothering him now, there’s no more signature hip shaking. His walker sits on the stage nearby.
“Everybody looked forward to his little hip movement,” his wife said. “They'd say, ‘Gene move your hip.’ And so that was part of it, too. Everybody looked for that because they knew that at some point he would move that hip a little bit. So that was fun.”
His favorite songs include “The Star Spangled Banner,” “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Bye Bye Blackbird.” He hums and bops along as the orchestra plays it.
“I wrote that arrangement years ago, and I always liked what I did,” he said. “I think it was one of my finest works.”
He ended the concert with the theme from the movie “Rocky” – a song long-associated with passion, motivation and inspiration.
“I'm happy. I got my beautiful wife with me. I had a great daughter, two great grandsons, so I couldn't ask for anything better,” he said. “I feel happy that I made it. You know, I never thought I’d get this old, but I'm looking to make 100 now.”
