Gaetano (“Tom”) Mollica, a longtime Cobble HIll resident who rose from dockworker to trucking business operator, died recently at age 90.
Joseph Nardiello, a maternal grandson and Carroll Gardens resident, has written the following tribute:
The legacy of Mr. Mollica, born just one block away from Brooklyn’s bustling docks on Sackett Street and into 1914s sprawling shipping labor community, tells of the spirit and achievement of simple living in the midst of a 1900s metropolis – by simplifying life to everyday work ethic and a triumphant love of family and friends that clearly, was its own reward.
In his early life, Tom Mollica worked countless hours lifting, loading and unloading freight on Brooklyn and New York’s piers for private shipping through the Great Depression, then joining the war effort in earnest at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by preparing and loading thousands of ships for the overseas war effort. His life displays the snapshots of 1940s, 1950s and ’60s New York, of a family growing along with his own trucking business within New York City. His wife, Rose Mollica, had developed a career of her own, in management within Chase Manhattan Bank’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan.
Their mid-life was a time set to the music of Jimmy Roselli, Jerry Vale and radio days prior to buying a home in what’s now called Brownstone Brooklyn, of visiting family weekly and hosting gatherings that would exceed 20-30 relatives every weekend, all within walking distance – after a workweek that was seldomly under 60 hours. Their friends were numbered in the thousands. Together they were involved in local church and community efforts, he being voted to the ranks of Grand Knight (highest rank of 4th degree) of the Knights of Columbus (twice), while she was voted President of the Columbiettes.
Born into an immigrant family that would raise 11 children, Tom Mollica had by age 12 already assisted with sidewalk fruit and vegetable peddlers in preparing carts and deliveries, worked within small grocery shops everyday for 5 years and then added working with Western Union to deliver packages and newswires by bicycle for another 4. His strength of body and of character was shaped by the community of immigrants in what was called South Brooklyn.
After 20 years of retirement in Deltona, Florida, Mr. Mollica returned to live in Brooklyn when he could no longer travel back at will to visit family to the same home he purchased in 1950s. He is survived by his wife Rose of 67 years, 2 sisters retired in Florida and one brother in Suffolk, and leaves 9 grandchildren, 13 great-grandchildren and a legacy of a work ethic that emphasized constant devotion, and honest betterment every day.
© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2004
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