Former Middletown Mayor Sebastian Garafalo was buried with military honors on last Tuesday at State Veterans Cemetery on Bow Lane. Garafalo, a Republican, served four mayoral terms in Middletown. He was elected mayor for three consecutive terms, holding office from 1983-1989, and he served his fourth term two years later from 1991-1993.
“He was a real people person,” said Michael Gionfriddo, who served as mayoral deputy during Garafalo’s tenure as mayor. “The reason he was [a successful Republican] in a democratic town is because he always made people feel like he was one of them.”
According to Gionfriddo, Garafalo helped foster strong relations between the city and the University.
“He was very interested in Wesleyan,” Gionfriddo said. “He thought a close relationship [between the city and Wesleyan] was a positive thing. He didn’t believe Wesleyan was a college on a hill to be ignored.”
Garafalo had a long-standing political career. In 1951, at the age of 19, he enlisted in the Conn. National Guard, which was stationed in the location of what is now the Inn at Middletown. While enlisted, he served for two years in Germany during the Korean War.
Garafalo then worked for 25 years in banking and finance, after which he spent 30 years involved in city politics.
After his tenure as mayor, Garafalo served as the City’s Tax Collector from 1993-1999. He retired in 1999.
Even after announcing his retirement, Garafalo continued to serve Middletown through his involvement on the local high school building committee and as a leader of the Greater Middletown Military Museum.
Garafalo’s other major contributions to the city include his renovations of parks and athletic fields throughout Middletown.
He also helped secure a five million dollar Open Space Bond, which allows the city to protect its open space from overdevelopment.
Diagnosed with cancer approximately two years ago, Garafalo passed away on Jan. 21 at Middlesex Hospital.
Before he died, the former mayor requested to have three firemen and three policemen as pallbearers.
“That was his last wish,” said Middletown Mayor Dominique Thornton.
At Garafalo’s funeral Deputy Police Chief Philip Pessina, Lt. Joseph Labbadia, Police Officer John Labbadia, Fire Captains Joseph Pagano and Ted Samolik, and Firefighter Matthew Scarrozzo all served as pallbearers. Additionally, former colleagues who served with Garafalo in the Korean War were honorary pallbearers. The funeral was held at St. Sebastian’s Church on Washington St.
“[Garafalo] was the first mayor [of Middletown] that I ever met, back in 1983,” Thornton said. “I went to him with a group of neighbors with an issue [concerning sanitation pick-up].”
Thornton said that Garafalo listened attentively and worked to resolve the issue.
“He was a defining personality of what it is to be a mayor,” Thornton said.
Many in the community also knew Garafalo as the auctioneer in the auction at the annual feast of St. Sebastian, a fundraiser put on by St. Sebastian’s Church.
Garafalo’s great grandfather, affectionately called Joe Fish because he sold fish, was the Church’s first auctioneer. After his grandfather died, Garafalo became his successor as auctioneer, continuing the long-standing tradition.
“It’s a beautiful story of continuity of community,” Thornton said.
Thornton said that aside from knowing Garafalo politically, she also had the opportunity to get to know him personally through the feasts for St. Sebastian, which she started attending after she joined the City Council in 1996. Thornton said that when she arrived at the festival, she saw a group of men on the porch, one of whom was Garafalo.
`“He immediately came down to greet me…and asked me to join them on the march,” she said.
Thornton said that though she initially felt a little nervous about how she might be received at the feast, herself belonging to a different church, Garafalo instantly put her at ease.
“Who do we now have to take his place? This [might be] the first time since the beginning of St. Sebastian Church that the auctioneer will no longer be a Garafalo,” Thornton said.
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