Salvatore B. DeAngelo, 81

Salvatore B. DeAngelo, 81, of Columbia Falls, died peacefully at home in his beloved Montana on May 25, 2017, after a courageous battle with acute myeloid leukemia.

Sal was born May 21, 1936, in Brooklyn, New York, the first son of Salvatore and Catherine DeAngelo. He was baptized at the Church of St. John the Baptist June 14, 1936, and remained a lifelong Roman Catholic.

After graduating from S.J. Tilden High School in Brooklyn in 1955, Sal served honorably in the Army National Guard of New York from 1959 to 1965. He was promoted to Specialist -4 as a company machinist and instructor due to previous knowledge of wide range ability in machine techniques and tooling.

Sal’s career continued in New York with machinist, tooling and jig and fixture positions with companies including Sperry Gyroscope, Grumman Aircraft and Republic Fairchild Hiller. After moving to Colorado in the early 1970s Sal worked for Coors Container Division in Golden and later joined Martin Marietta Corporation in 1976, and retired from Lockheed Martin in Orlando, Florida, in 1992.

Sal is survived by his loving wife of 39 years, Barbara Jean DeAngelo. They married Nov. 22, 1978, in Orlando and later moved to California, Washington state and finally retired in Whitefish and Columbia Falls.

Sal was blessed with four children, Jannae DeAngelo of Charleston, West Virginia, Gina Brod and her partner Michael Wood of Littleton, Colorado, Salvatore DeAngelo (deceased), and Christine (Lucky) DeAngelo and husband Todd Buxton of Montgomery, Texas. Grandchildren include Michael Kemal DeAngelo and wife Ashley and their sons Theo Thompson DeAngelo and James Galileo DeAngelo; also, Gabriel DeAngelo of Daytona Beach, Florida. He is also survived by younger brother, Robert P. D’Angelo, of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Throughout his life, Sal enjoyed the great outdoors and was a big game trophy hunter in New York, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, California, Montana, Canada and South Africa. Other interests included physical fitness and body building, auto mechanics, sports cars, boxing and, of course, Italian cooking. Sal also held the Third degree in the Knights of Columbus in Brooklyn. Other organizations included the NRA, North American Hunting Club, Rocky Mountain Elk Association and Whitefish, Montana Rifle and Pistol Club.

A Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Memorial Day, May 29, at St. Richard’s Catholic Church in Columbia Falls.

A family and friends memorial and graveside service will also be held at Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home in Orlando, Florida at a later date.

Darlington Cremation and Burial Service is caring for Sal’s family.