Martin “Sonny” Zaneski of Riverhead died November 5, 2014. He was 77 years old.
Born in Greenport on August 17, 1937, he was the son of Martin J. and Helen (Wokowsky) Zaneski. He grew up in Riverhead and attended Riverhead public schools, graduating from Riverhead High School in the Class of 1955.
He worked as a pressman for the News-Review and became the paper’s head pressman before taking a job as a repairman with N.Y. Telephone Co. in 1969.
Zaneski was a 56-year member of the Riverhead Fire Department, Red Bird Hook and Ladder Company, which he served as captain. He was a member and past president of the Polish Town Civic Association and a member of the Riverhead Polish Independent Club.
He met his future wife Barbara Densieski in the summer of 1959, when he declined her invitation to dance a lindy one night at the Apple Tree in Mattituck. He had second thoughts and asked her to join him for the next dance and so began a courtship that would last a lifetime. They were married on Sept. 15, 1962 at St. Isidore’s Church.
He loved to play baseball and was a member of the Riverhead Fire Department baseball team. He was also a member of the fire department’s Iron Man Drill Team. He enjoyed bowling and working around the yard, his wife said.
Zaneski suffered a stroke in 1998 and retired from the phone company after 30 years of service in 1999.
In addition to his wife of 52 years, he is survived by their children, Karin Nusbaum of Matawan, New Jersey, and Kim Miller, Kerri Whitehead, and Kevin Zaneski, all of Riverhead. He is also survived by his brother Robert, of Temecula, California, his sister Patricia Underwood of Riverhead and by nine grandchildren.
The family will receive visitors at McLaughlin Heppner Funeral Home, 336 Marcy Avenue, Riverhead on Friday, Nov. 7, from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held Saturday, November 8 at St. Isidore’s Church at 10 a.m.
Memorial donations may be made to The Brendan House home for people with traumatic brain injury currently under construction by New Beginnings Community Center, 12 Platinum Court, Medford, NY 11763.
