Daniel Joseph Melillo, Jr. passed into the next life on April 28, 2020 at Danbury Hospital from natural causes. Daniel was born on February 15, 1927 at Norwalk, Connecticut to Daniel Joseph Melillo, Sr., son of Antonio Milillo and Maria Cristina Cianci, immigrants from Castelgrande, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy, and Gladys Arlene Finch, daughter of William Sylvester Finch of Stamford, Connecticut and Jennie Florence Thayer, daughter of Hiram Stetson Thayer and Elizabeth Mathews of Braintree, Massachusetts.
Daniel Joseph Melillo, Jr.
In 2006, he was predeceased by his wife of 55 years, Viola Gladys Wiley, daughter of James T. Wiley and Louisa Pack. They were married November 11, 1951 in the Killington neighborhood of Lexington, Kentucky.
Daniel was also predeceased by his siblings Florence Wedge, Anna Venezia, Mary Elizabeth Parks, Anthony Daniel Melillo, Shirley Arlene Crook, and Ethel Gladys Lovelace. He is survived by his brothers Robert Felix Melillo and William Douglas Melillo of Pinellas County, Florida. He was predeceased in death by his daughter Violet Strano. Daniel is also survived by his children Judith Corrie of Danbury, Connecticut; Douglas William Melillo and his wife Alicia (née D’Andrea) of Stamford, Connecticut; Deborah O’Sullivan and her husband Michael of Newtown, Connecticut; Danielle “DiDi” Melillo of Torrington, Connecticut; his grandchildren Andrew Rocco Melillo of New Canaan, Connecticut; Sarah Elizabeth Fox and her husband Travis of Florence, South Carolina; Shawna O’Sullivan and her fiancé Mitchell Audet of Danielson, Connecticut; Brennan O’Sullivan of Newtown, Connecticut; and, by his great-grandchildren Ella Audet and Wyatt Harper Fox.
Daniel Joseph Melillo, Jr. served in the United States Navy onboard the Destroyer (DE 644) USS Vammen for the duration of WWII. Daniel was a hard-working man. Reserved and quiet, he spoke only when something was needed to be said, and his capacity to do for others, was unmatched. Though his family deeply grieves his loss, they are comforted in the knowledge that he has received his just reward, and is at peace in that spiritual building, that house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.