On Friday a true gentleman that served bereaved families in the borough for sixteen years was laid to rest. Joseph A. Zembruski’s funeral was held at St. Vincent Ferrer Roman Catholic Church, a parish were he had been a part time organist for many years.
As a choir member years ago, I always called “Joe.” He was only 40 years of age when he passed away peacefully on Monday, June 29, 2015 after a courageous six month battle with cancer.
Jennifer (Corsi) Zembruski was at her beloved husband’s side at St. Mary’s Hospital in Waterbury. Joe had been born in Waterbury on January 23, 1975, and was a son of John Zembruski, Sr. and Barbara (Vensel) Zembruski of Middlebury.
He was a 1993 graduate of Holy Cross High School and went on to attend Salve Regina University. In five years, Joe completed an undergraduate program with a degree in Business and Music, and his MBA. He attended Briarwood College to complete his Associates Degree in Mortuary Science before beginning his career as a funeral director at Naugatuck Valley Memorial/Fitzgerald–Zembruski Funeral Home for the last 16 years.
Many people knew Joe for his love of Disney, clean cars, and definitely for his love of music. How fitting that his license plate 1JAZ was not only his initials, but spelled out his passion.
This supremely talented musician first began picking out simple melodies on the piano at age 3. With music as an outlet that he enjoyed immensely, Joe shared his talent at many churches in the greater Waterbury area and some of the priests from those churches came to St. Vincent’s to concelebrate his funeral Mass.
Rev. Kevin Forsyth led the funeral Mass for yet another of his staff members. In December of 2014 he said the Mass for the funeral of beloved Child Care Center Director Patricia Meehan and last December he presided at the funeral for long-time bookkeeper Jim Tessman.
Family members served as readers and brought up the gifts during the Mass and a member of the funeral home read a detailed sacramental history of Joe’s short life.
At the beginning of his homily, Fr. Forsyth made reference to the refrain of the piece that the family had chosen for the responsorial psalm, the beautiful “Shepherd Me, O God” by Marty Haugen: “Shepherd me, O God, beyond my wants, beyond my fears, from death into life.” We sang the final phrase in the correct order, the priest assured the mourners, because Joe has completed his life on earth and has gone on to eternal life. While he acknowledged that no one in the church wanted to be there, this loss was “beyond our wants” and that now Joe is “just beyond our sight,” and is checking into one of the many mansions in Heaven “right now.”
Fr. Forsyth shared that the wake held at the Naugatuck Valley Memorial/Fitzgerald–Zembruski Funeral Home on Thursday evening had been a marvelous tribute to the man he called a “consummate professional” who had worked as funeral director in this same space. There were very long lines of community members that had come to pay their respects at the wake that went two hours over the scheduled time, and the funeral directors asked him to share that Joe would have appreciated that the lines were comparable to those in his beloved DisneyWorld. “Fastpass. He would have gotten a Fastpass,” Mrs. Zembruski offered and many nodded in agreement.
Family members served as readers and brought up the gifts during the Mass and Nick Corsi, Joe’s father-in-law, read a detailed sacramental history of Joe’s short life.
Following the homily, the congregation was treated to a very special tribute to the amazing keyboard player that Joe was. St. Vincent Director of Music Ministries & Organist Cornell Bialicki pushed a button on the electronic piano and a beautiful recording of Joe himself playing “Taste and See” by James E. Moore filled the church. Half way through the piece, the young widow escorted her son Nathaniel to the piano and he sat on the piano bench until the final notes. During the consecration of the Eucharist, Mr. Bailicki had Nathaniel play the bell on the organ.
In a service that was filled with music carefully chosen by the family, the communion song was “One Bread, One Body” by John B Foley S.J. Nathaniel sat down at the piano upon which his father had played so many time and played the piece with a polished security that would have made his father proud. Not only did he play the beloved hymn with flourishes, he cued the choir members and looked over his shoulder to watch the progress of the line for Communion, in much the same way as I had seen his father often do from that very piano bench.
On October 2, 1999, Joe received the Congressional Certificate of Recognition and was named Polish Mayor for the Day of Waterbury. At that time, Joe shared ”Although, I am not very old, I have come to recognize that it is very important that each one of us uses our God given talents in a way that we can better ourselves and our community.” Joe served on the St. Hedwig Board of Directors, the Naugatuck Senior Center Commission, and the Naugatuck Chamber of Commerce.
This busy community member was a loving, caring husband for 14 years to Jennifer Zembruski, the Chief Operations Officer of Waterbury’s Palace Theater. Frank Tavera, Chief Executive Officer, Volunteer Coordinator Debbie Forchielli and many other members of the Palace staff attended the funeral. Mrs. Zembruski sometimes served as cantor at St. Vincent’s as Joe played the organ.
Joe was the proud father of his “little buddy” Nathaniel and his young daughter Grace, age 8. At age 12, Nathaniel is the host of a weekly polka music program on 1320 WATR every Sunday morning. General Manager Tom Chute posted the obituary on the station’s Facebook page with this message: “The WATR family sends our prayers and sympathy to the Joseph Zembruski family. He was a wonderful friend and family man. His son Nathaniel hosts a Sunday morning polka program on WATR. Our WATR family mourns his loss.”
I learned of Joe’s passing from Agnes Dann who had worked with Joe at St. Vincent’s. “Very sad day,” she wrote. “The world has lost a sweet gentle man-and so very young. My heart goes out to his entire family – his wife and young children, his brothers and his parents. Godspeed Joe.”
Naugatuck Patch readers posted about their sadness upon hearing the news of Joe’s death and offered condolences to the Zembruski family. The most heartfelt came from family members that Joe had worked with during their times of loss. Anna-Marie Altieri wrote “He was a wonderful young man when both my parents died. Too young, too soon!” Mike Saunders said, “Joe took care of my father’s arrangements and couldn’t have been more helpful. He certainly made a difficult time more bearable. Thoughts and prayers got out to all.” Danielle Accetura posted this blessing: “May the love and compassion Joe displayed to so many families in their darkest hours be blessed upon his family. My condolences.”
Joe was buried immediately following the funeral at Calvary Cemetery in Waterbury.
I add my sincere condolences to Joe’s wife and children and the entire Zembruski and Corsi families. I will always remember Joe as a talented musician, a dedicated family man and above all, a gentleman. Rest in peace and please keep watch over all who loved you.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Office of Radio and Television or WJMJ 15 Peach Orchard Road, Prospect, CT 06712. The office of the Archdiocese produces a daily Mass that is broadcast daily on WCCT- TV at 10:00am. To send an online condolence, please visit www.naugatuckvalleymemorial.com