Anthony “Tony” Cortese

Anthony “Tony” Cortese

March 17, 1929 – November 1, 2021

Anthony “Tony” was born in a house in Little Italy on March 17th, 1929, and lived in Omaha, Nebraska his entire life.  Tony married Donna Goldsberry in 1952, and together they raised three children, Steven, Michael, and Mary, and were grandparents to many.  Donna passed away in 2016, and his daughter, Mary, passed in early 2020.

Tony worked for the Army Corps of Engineers until his retirement at age 60.  For many years after he retired from the Corps, he worked at Marino’s Grocery Store on South 13th Street where he was a skillful Italian sausage maker.

During his adulthood, Tony served as a baseball coach for Ak-Sar-Ben Little League where he specialized in the art of the bunt.  Tony loved to make pizza, spaghetti and meatballs, and other Italian specialties.  He also liked to indulge in anything sweet.  He was a talented bowler at Sokol Hall, Chops, and ICC.  It was no accident that Tony lived near Ak-Sar-Ben Racetrack as he was an avid horseplayer.  When his good friend, Claude, won tickets to the Kentucky Derby, he took Tony as his guest.  As his earlier years found him at Ak-Sar-Ben, his later years found him at Horseman’s Park where he could often be seen eating a Snickers bar and joking with the workers for whom he cared for so much and who were much appreciated.  He also loved playing Keno, and he always was working on a jigsaw puzzle.  When Donna’s health began to fail, Tony devoted his life to her.

Throughout his life, he joked around with everybody he dealt with such as bank tellers, grocery store workers, waitresses, and anyone else in the service industry.  His pronunciation errors endeared him to us all.  For example, he pronounced K-mart as “K-Mark,” Walgreens as “Walgreems,” and the TV show detective Mannix was “Meldrix.” Tony lived a long and happy life. He died peacefully in his sleep at age 92 on November 1st.  He will be missed by all who knew him.

VISITATION: Thursday, November 11th, at 9:30 am followed by FUNERAL MASS at 11am, all at Holy Cross Catholic Church, 4810 Woolworth Avenue.  Private Interment.  Memorials are suggested to Holy Cross Church.

 

 

2 Comments

  • tim digiacomo Posted November 8, 2021 3:10 pm

    Very sorry mike

  • Kay Ponec Posted November 10, 2021 5:52 am

    Rest In Peace Tony. You kept us entertained at the Corps.

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