Salvatore J. Fiato

SLINGERLANDS —  Salvatore J. Fiato, a decorated World War II veteran and champion skeet shooter, was also a hairdresser and a gifted artist.

“He was a gentle gentleman,” said Christine Fiato, his loving wife of 21 years.

He died peacefully surrounded by his family on Tuesday, Dec. 27, 2016, at his home. He was 93.

“I was praying with him...There he went. He was home, where he wanted to be,” said his wife.

The son of the late Joseph and Martha (née Viglucci) Fiato, Mr. Fiato was born on Oct. 27, 1923 in Albany. He grew up on Trinity Place, near Lombardo’s Restaurant in Albany.

His father worked in Menands, crushing scrap metal. His mother was a homemaker, raising their nine surviving children, said Mrs. Fiato. Salvatore, called Sal by his family and friends, was the youngest of nine children.

Mr. Fiato worked hard all his life. At age 7, his wife said, he worked the Albany streets as a newsy. At age 9, he worked as a shoe-shine boy, setting up at State Street and Broadway. As a teenager, his wife said, he worked as a soda jerk at South Allen and Madison Avenue.

Because he grew up during the Great Depression, his wife said, he was never wasteful. “He taught me the importance of re-using and fixing things,” she said, a value not typical of her generation, she added. “He’d ask, ‘Do you really need that?’ He’d fix a broken chair, not just throw it away. He’d re-use...He was into recycling before it was popular.”

“A member of our nation’s Greatest Generation, Sal was a proud veteran of the United States Navy during World War II,” his family wrote in a tribute. “Sal was a survivor of Iwo Jima and completed 18 invasions aboard the USS Humphreys (APD-12).  He was awarded the Asiatic-Pacific (five Stars), American Theatre, Philippine Liberation (two Stars) ribbons, the Good Conduct and the Bronze Star medals.”

“He served for the whole war — from January 1942 to July 1945,” said his wife. “He said that he and General MacArthur got the same medal in the same campaign.”

He was a first-class signalman, Mrs. Fiato said. One of her fondest memories is of a Memorial Day when they were grocery shopping, he picked up some flags that were on display at the store and used semaphore to signal to her, down the aisle, “I love you.”

Upon returning from the war, he married Kale M. McNaughton and began his career as a New York City master hair stylist. An entrepreneur for over 60 years, the Fiatos owned and operated The New Yorker Hair Stylist and Taco Pronto in Albany.

“After the war, Sal and his best friend from Trinity Place, Joe, went to hairdressing school. That’s what Joe’s sister had done. When they finished, Sal felt like he needed to go to New York City to really be a hairdresser,” said his wife.

He went to the Robert Fiance Beauty School. “Robert Fiance was a chemist who opened up a hairdressing school. He knew all about hair coloring,” said Mrs. Fiato.

She met Mr. Fiato in 1986 after his first wife had died. She rented a cabin at his farm. “It had no running water and no bathroom, just an outhouse,” Mrs. Fiato recalled. The rustic cabin provided the peace she needed.

“It was beautiful, with a pond. His farm borders Five Rivers. Sal would come around and check on me and my kids. He’d stop by when we were skating on the pond, or grilling outdoors,” she said.

The couple were engaged in 1993 and married in 1995.

“Sal was a lifelong learner and a man of many interests,” his family wrote. He was a world champion skeet shooter, trained bird dogs, and was a gifted artist and painter.

“Sal had a passion for the outdoors,” his family went on. “He considered himself God’s caretaker of his farm, where he visited daily and met his beloved wife, Christine. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him.”

Although he was a hard worker and an outdoorsman, his wife said, “He was very soft in his way.” She went on, “He doesn’t walk into a room being flamboyant...If a friend was sick, he would go and visit them. He would sit by their hospital bed. All his friends died before him,” she said, and he tended to each one.

Mr. Fiato also was good to her children who were nearly all grown when they met. She recalled he would tell them, “My job is to teach you what you have to do for yourself.”

“He was kind to all of us,” she said.

Mr. Fiato enjoyed painting landscapes, both in watercolor and oil, and would frequently work with well-known local artists, his wife said; one of them was his friend Harry McChesney who painted murals for the New York State Museum.
 

Mr. Fiato’s landscapes captured the feeling of peace he found on his farm. “There were never any motorcycles or anything like that,” said his wife. “He didn’t want to disturb the wildlife. He wanted to protect the peace and quiet. He literally loved his farm. Even to the last day. He was God’s caretaker...He was a gentle gentleman.”

****

Salvatore J. Fiato is survived by his wife, Christine (née Waggoner) Fiato; his children, Michael Fiato and his wife, Gayle, Martha Fiato, and Mona George and her husband, Kevin; his stepchildren, Audra Jones and her husband, Robert, Bridget M. Cooke and Shawn Maloy, and Cassandra Maloy-Dambrose and her husband, Jason; his 11 grandchildren and nine stepgrandchildren; his four great-grandsons; a great-granddaughter on the way; and one step-great-grandson. He is also survived by many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

His parents died before him as did his first wife, Kale; his children, Mark J. Fiato and Miriam Fiato, and his eight siblings.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be held at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 3, at Mater Christi Catholic Church at 35 Hurst Avenue in Albany. Family and friends will be received at the church between 10 and 11 a.m. A burial with military honors will follow at the Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery in Schuylerville. Arrangements are by New Comer Funeral Home of Albany. A memorial service will be held later at Mr. Fiato’s farm, with details to follow.

Memorial contributions may be made to Trinity Institute, 15 Trinity Pl., Albany, NY 12202 or online to www.trinityalliancealbany.org.

— Melissa Hale-Spencer

 

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