| Notes |
- Niagara Gazette - 5/30/1965
LOCKPORT-The body of
a, Lockport man, missing
since May 20, was recovered
from the State Barge Canal
In North Tonawanda Saturday.
*
Identification was made
by relatives.
.He was James R. Tatu,.35,
of. 62 Bright St.
He had been d r o w n ed
with a companion, Rudolph
Stanev, 42, of Albion, whose
body was recovered Friday.
Fishing In Canal
The pair had been fishing
in a rowboat in the canal,
and apparently fell from it.
Neither man could swim, according
to members of Mr.
Tatu's family.
The body was reportedly
spotted floating in the water
In front of 72 Old Falls
Blvd., by a North Tonawanda
youth, who summoned police.
Both victims were employed
by the State Department
of Public Works. Mr. Tatu
had been employed less
than a month when he met
his death.
Mr. Tatu was born in Buffalo
and had lived in this
city for the last 25 years.
Prior to w o r k i n g for the
state, he had been employed
as a cook by the Eagles Club
here.
Survivors Listed
Surviving are his wife,
Mrs. Cecelia Tatu; his parents,
Mr. and Mrs. Clarence
V o l s c h o w , this city; his
g r a n d parents, Mrs. Ella
Volschow, N e w f a n e, and
Mrs. Ann Tatu, Olcott; three
sisters, Mrs. L a w r e n ce
Wheeler, this city, Miss
Rose Volschow, Buffalo, and
Miss Kathleen Volschow,
this city; a brother, Arthur
Volschow; five daughters,
Mrs. Rose M. Davis, Mrs.
Cecelia Hillman, Josephine
Tatu, Mary and Vicky Tatu;
three sons, James, Robert
and Thomas Tatu, all of this
city, and two grandchildren.
Funeral services will be
held at'11:80 a.m. Tuesday
at the Gaul Funeral Home.
Friends may call 7 to 9
p.m. today and 2 to 4 p.m.
and 7 to 9 p.m. Monday.
ALSO
Niagara Gazette -
LOCKPORT - One of the
two State Department of
Public Works C a n a l employes
missing after a fishing
trip on the State Barge
Canal at Tonawanda is
James R. Tatu, 35, of 62
Bright St. here. His wife
has not yet reconciled herself
to the possibility he
may have drowned.
Mr. Tatu, the father of
eight children, had been on
his new job as a cook on a
maintenance barge, for just
three weeks.
Last Thursday, he came
home from work and said
he was going fishing with a
friend. He took his fishing
gear and left.
-Authorities-believe that
Mr. Tatu and Rudolph
Stanev, 50, of Albion,
drowned when their boat
overturned in the canal.
His w i f e, Mrs-. Cecelia
Rose Tatu, a tiny woman
with dark h a i r and tearswollen
eyes, cannot believe
he is gone.
"I can't understand him
going out in a rowboat to"
fish," she said. "He was
deathly afraid of the water
and could not swim a
stroke. He lived at Olcott
Beach for 17 years and he
never went near the water,
due to some scare he received
in his childhood. I think
some of his friends threw
him into some deep water
when he was very young."
His fishing companion reportedly
also was unable to
swim. Mr. Tatu's fishing
usually was done along the
shores of streams.
The Tatus live in a second
floor apartment at the end
ofJSright Street: a one-block
street running off West Avenue
and ending in a field.
All but the oldest daughter,
Mrs. Rose M. Davis, 21,
who lives elsewhere in Lockport,
were at home.
Mrs. Cecelia Hillman, 18,
a daughter, was taking care
of the other children and
her own 2-year-old son,
Tommy.
The other children are Josephine,
16, a North Park
Junior high school student;
James, 14; Robert, 7;
Thomas, 6; Mary, 5; and
Vicky, who will be 2 years
old next month.
The young ones do not
realize their father is missing.
Taking out a picture of
him wearing a beard, she
said t h a t he had started
growing one before St. Patrick's
Day for the Lockport
centennial celebration in
July.
"I can't cry any more,"
she said. "I'm cried out."
Mr. Tatu, a native of
Lockport, had been a cook
for many years in Lockport
and Niagara Falls restaurants,
"He was a hard worker,
but he had to be. When the
going got rough we had to
go on welfare, but he always
kept trying to find
work and then he got this
job and we thought everything
would be all right,"
Mrs. Tatu said.
A brother, Nelson Tatu, a
Lockport taxi driver, _was
killed in a crash in the
county about a year ago.
Grappling operations were
scheduled to be resumed
this morning, a Town of
Amherst police official said.
The search was halted
about 4 p.m. Saturday for
the night.
|
Abt 1930 - Abt 1965 (35 years)