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Long Hill man dies doing the tree work he loved
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
BY BILL SWAYZE
Star-Ledger Staff
The ground was no place for Thomas "Slim" Romeo. Up high in the trees, with a chainsaw buzzing, trimming branches, that's where he liked to be, friends said yesterday.
Although the 71-year-old Long Hill man was urged to stop climbing and cutting, just Saturday he told a friend he had two trees to cut Monday.
"I told him, 'Tommy, you are getting too old. You got to slow down,'" his friend Joe Cerulli, 71, said. "He says, 'I'll knock them right out and be right down.'"
At the job Monday, at a longtime friend's home on Warren Avenue in the Stirling section of the township, a rope he was using to secure himself to the tree snapped about 11:30 a.m., police said. Romeo fell 25 feet.
He was pronounced dead at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The exact cause of death has not been determined yet, said police Capt. Dan Hedden.
"He loved tree work. He was doing it most of his life. It was like second nature for him," said friend Frank Masterson, 73, of Berkeley Heights. "He was a big guy with a big heart. If you told him you had a problem and needed help, he'd be at your front door before you'd hang up the phone."
His daughter, Catherine Stiles, agreed. Working in the trees "was one of his passions," she said, adding, "He was a very kind, loving man, always willing to help.
Romeo, who was born in Stirling and lived in Berkeley Heights for 31 years before moving back to Stirling in 1980, lived with and took care of his 94-year-old mother.
Married with a daughter and two sons, Romeo worked as a mechanic at Public Service Electric & Gas in Summit for 42 years before retiring in 1992.
He also owned and operated the Thomas R. Romeo Tree Specialist Co. in Stirling. Lately, he was taking care of his friends' tree problems for free, his friends said, noting Romeo was never without a funny tale.
Romeo, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was a member of the Stirling Elks and American Legion Post 484 in Stirling, and served in the Berkeley Heights Fire Department for 14 years and remained a life member.
He is survived by his wife, Joan Romeo; his daughter, Stiles, of Berkeley Heights; two sons, Thomas Romeo of Stewartsville and Martin Romeo of Whitehouse Station; and five grandchildren.
Services will be Friday at 10 a.m. at the Valley Memorial Funeral Home, 1012 Valley Road, Gillette. Services will follow at Somerset Hills Crematory, Basking Ridge.
Friends and family will pay their respects at the funeral home tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
Wednesday, November 09, 2005
BY BILL SWAYZE
Star-Ledger Staff
The ground was no place for Thomas "Slim" Romeo. Up high in the trees, with a chainsaw buzzing, trimming branches, that's where he liked to be, friends said yesterday.
Although the 71-year-old Long Hill man was urged to stop climbing and cutting, just Saturday he told a friend he had two trees to cut Monday.
"I told him, 'Tommy, you are getting too old. You got to slow down,'" his friend Joe Cerulli, 71, said. "He says, 'I'll knock them right out and be right down.'"
At the job Monday, at a longtime friend's home on Warren Avenue in the Stirling section of the township, a rope he was using to secure himself to the tree snapped about 11:30 a.m., police said. Romeo fell 25 feet.
He was pronounced dead at Morristown Memorial Hospital. The exact cause of death has not been determined yet, said police Capt. Dan Hedden.
"He loved tree work. He was doing it most of his life. It was like second nature for him," said friend Frank Masterson, 73, of Berkeley Heights. "He was a big guy with a big heart. If you told him you had a problem and needed help, he'd be at your front door before you'd hang up the phone."
His daughter, Catherine Stiles, agreed. Working in the trees "was one of his passions," she said, adding, "He was a very kind, loving man, always willing to help.
Romeo, who was born in Stirling and lived in Berkeley Heights for 31 years before moving back to Stirling in 1980, lived with and took care of his 94-year-old mother.
Married with a daughter and two sons, Romeo worked as a mechanic at Public Service Electric & Gas in Summit for 42 years before retiring in 1992.
He also owned and operated the Thomas R. Romeo Tree Specialist Co. in Stirling. Lately, he was taking care of his friends' tree problems for free, his friends said, noting Romeo was never without a funny tale.
Romeo, who served in the U.S. Marine Corps, was a member of the Stirling Elks and American Legion Post 484 in Stirling, and served in the Berkeley Heights Fire Department for 14 years and remained a life member.
He is survived by his wife, Joan Romeo; his daughter, Stiles, of Berkeley Heights; two sons, Thomas Romeo of Stewartsville and Martin Romeo of Whitehouse Station; and five grandchildren.
Services will be Friday at 10 a.m. at the Valley Memorial Funeral Home, 1012 Valley Road, Gillette. Services will follow at Somerset Hills Crematory, Basking Ridge.
Friends and family will pay their respects at the funeral home tomorrow from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m.
