Sunday, June 12, 2022
My prayers and condolences go out to the Joe Rittler family. Joe Sr. was my life-long friend for almost 76 years. He was my neighbor in the original Rittler Homestead on Emerson St in Rochester’s 24th ward. During our Jefferson High School years, we spent many a night on my front porch just talking and enjoying each other’s company. We were both interested in engineering and the US space program and at a youthful age experimented in building model rockets; that was until we had an accident where he severely burned his hand. We tried to hide this from Mrs. Rittler, but she was not fooled by our deception that was the end of our rocket experiments.
Joe and his family moved to North Greece Rd and eventually he went off to college and then upon graduation worked for Boeing Co. on the West Cost. I went off to college and my family moved to California, but we remained in touch. We both eventually returned to Rochester and Joe married his neighborhood sweetheart, Sue and I married my wife, Annette.
As both of our families grew, we always saw each other on the Christmas holidays and other special occasions. After our retirements 25+ years ago; Joe my sister Rosemary and I met for breakfast once a month in Spencerport to discuss the many issues of the day and reminisced about out the old days on Emerson St. Since Joe was a paper carrier during his younger years; he always was willing to share with us the stories of the old neighborhood “gossip.”
In his later years, Joe became one of the main caregivers for his brother Carl who struggled with health issues. I always respected him for the fact that he spent an extreme amount of his personal time to make Carl’s life easier. He was immensely proud of his German heritage and especially proud of his immediate family. He always wanted a large family, and was blessed with five children and many grandchildren, and great grandchildren. They were so important to give meaning to his life. I will miss my dear friend, Joe, and will always cherish the many good times we had together. May he rest in peace.
Tony Bellavia
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