"He was a sweetheart of a guy." He really was. I am greatly saddened to hear this. I liked Mario a lot.
I don't remember how I met him but it was many years ago. It might have been at an early NJ Hi-Railers "Trainstock" or possibly it was York but after that I often ran into into him at train events such as York. We talked whenever we saw each other. We found out that we had more in common than just trains. We both worked for the Post Office and we both worked in the maintenance department. I worked at Kilmer in Edison,NJ and he worked at the plant in Philadelphia,PA which was near the airport. We had exchanged email addresses and when my plant was in the process of closing (not totally closing just removing all the mail processing machines) he told me to call him up. I did and we had a long talk and his words were very comforting. He had a strong belief in God and he made me feel better during a very trying time. He even offered a job to me at his plant but I didn't take it because it would have been a very long commute. The last time I saw him was just a year or two before he retired. I think this was about 5-6 years ago. My plant (now the Trenton,NJ plant) needed a part for a machine and they decided to send me to the Philly plant to get it. Both Mario and I were on what the Post Office calls Tour 3 which is the evening shift. This shift usually runs from 3pm to 11:30pm. Wouldn't you know it Mario was the contact person for the part at the Philly plant. When he knew it was me coming for the part he made a special trip to meet me at the door and then he gave me a tour of the Philly plant and of course he got me the part my plant needed. I remember him telling me he wasn't going to attend York (not sure when that was) but he didn't elaborate as to why. I think it was a year or two later I read on the forum that he retired from the Post Office. He may not have had an award winning layout or collection but he was truly a wonderful man and both the hobby and the world are at a loss now that he is gone. I will miss him.
