From: James Messina

Sent: Sunday, February 09, 2003 9:08 AM

Subject: My Sister's Heavenly Homecoming

My sister Paulette Messina Scafetta went home to be with her Heavenly Father when she died this morning in the ICU in Buffalo NY. She was 61 and diagnosed with Ovarian Cancer as well as being a brittle diabetic amputee.

I fortunately had a God given opportunity to spend ten full days with her January 7-17th at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo. I was there before her surgery which was on Friday January 10th. On the 10th Paulette made peace with each of us at her bedside, her husband Richard, daughter Mary Kate (who had just gotten engaged on New Years Day), daughter Sarah Anne (who was not there but on bed rest, she is pregnant and expecting in July), our younger sister Lucille (who has been a wonderful informant for all of us who are out of town about how Paulette has been doing) and myself. She survived the surgery, but her compromised health never allowed her to gain full recovery.

She remained in the ICU till her death. Paulette and I said our good bys in the ICU on Thursday January 17th knowing it was our last time face to face on this earth to see one another. We came to closure knowing that we loved each other unconditionally and that we shared a life-long bond which started at my birth and was the emotional tether which kept us in spirit with one another. Although we were not physically close, our emotional and psychic closeness was pronounced and we were able to feel each other's pain even if we were not present to see it. We could fight like "cats and dogs" but our bond of love was strong as witnessed by the beauty of our last ten days together.

I thank God that He gave Paulette a strong heart which got her through this crisis. She was in the hospital since before New Years. I knew she was critically ill since our visit to Buffalo on December 15 when she was not able to come to a family party that day in Batavia. Our family, Connie, Steve, Melissa and Ian have been in constant emotional distress from that day on, our concerns were for Paulette and her family that God's will be done in her life.

A scholarship fund is being set up in Paulette's memory at the Hamburg School District, more details will follow.

I ask you all to pray and spiritually lift up Paulette's immediate family that they will have the ability to cope with this great loss and be able to proceed to make their lives full and productive as living memorials to their wife's and mother's memory.

Thanks so much for being there for us at this time.

September 25, 1941 – February 9, 2003, surrounded by family and friends at Mercy Hospital in South Buffalo after a brief illness.  Paulette had just recently retired as the attendance secretary for the Hamburg Middle School, Hamburg, NY, where she was employed for the past fifteen years.  She was also an active member of the Support Staff Association for the Hamburg School District organizing many professional staff development days.  Paulette was a member of the PTA for many years organizing many successful events for the students in the Hamburg District. 

Paulette was active in many organizations throughout her life such as the Buffalo Diocesan Catholic Young Adult Club, in which she became president in 1965.  During her tenure she ran many conventions and traveled to Ecuador, South America, for two months.  She attended Bryant and Stratton and received her degree in business.  Shortly after that she worked for the United States Air Force and for United States Department of Social Security.  She was an avid crafter and enjoyed displaying her works of art at craft shows. Paulette was the loving daughter of the late Paul S. Messina, and Gilda Messina of Tampa, FL.  Paulette was also a devoted wife and mother.  Her husband, Richard Scafetta, and their two loving daughters survive her, Sarah Anne Farr with her husband, Scott Farr and Mary Kathryn with her fiancé Steven  DeMarzio.  Two siblings and their spouses, Drs. James and Constance Messina of Tampa, FL, and Lucille and Gary DiSanto, of Batavia, NY, also survive Paulette.  Also surviving are her nieces and a nephew, Melissa Fry and her husband Ian Fry, Steven Messina, Andrea LaFornara, and Lisa LaFornara.