PORTLAND — Domenic J. Mazziotti, a retired co-owner of a popular gas station in Portland who was known for taking care of his customers, his family and the community, died Saturday. He was 86.
Mr. Mazziotti and his two brothers owned and operated Mazziotti Brothers, a Texaco station on the corner of Washington Avenue and Bates Street for 37 years.
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His son, Stephen D. Mazziotti of Saco, said his father had a genuine concern for his customers. He said if a customer came into the gas station with a car problem, but had little money to pay for the work, he still fixed the car.
“That’s the way they did business,” his son said. “They took care of their customers in a way that you just don’t see anymore.”
Mr. Mazziotti grew up in Portland. He attended Portland High School and then worked for his father’s construction business. At the start of World War II, he enlisted in the Navy and spent nine months in Iceland, the Pacific and the Philippines. He served aboard a seagoing tug, the USS Redwing. When it hit an enemy mine in the Mediterranean Sea and sank, he was rescued by crews from four smaller tugs.
Mr. Mazziotti met his wife, the former Phyllis DiMatteo, during World War II at a New Year’s Eve party in Portland. He was there with his brother, Americo Mazziotti. She was there with her cousin, Mary DiMatteo.
The Mazziotti brothers’ war stories impressed the DiMatteo cousins, who began to write letters to the men. The couples were married in a joint ceremony in 1946, eight months after the Mazziotti brothers returned from the war. The couples shared a two-family home on Sherwood Street for many years. Domenic Mazziotti and his wife would have celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on June 16.
“(Their life) was as good as it gets,” his son said. “They were a happily married, old-fashioned couple. They did everything together.”
Mr. Mazziotti and his wife raised two children. Their other son, Richard Mazziotti, died in 1993.
Mr. Mazziotti was remembered by his son Stephen on Sunday as a father who was always there.
“He was the type of father most kids wish they had,” his son said. “I remember participating in high school sports. He took time off from work to go to the ball field. I’d look in the stands and see him there and that was it. It made my day. I am very fortunate.”
Mr. Mazziotti had a passion for golf and was a longtime member of Riverside Municipal Golf Course. His son said he played a few times a week until recent years, when his back pain became intolerable. He said his father suffered from degenerative discs.
Stephen Mazziotti said he admired his father’s perspective on life.
“He was kind of a simple guy,” his son said. “He went through life happy. He always had a smile on his face.”
Staff Writer Melanie Creamer can be contacted at 791-6361 or at:
mcreamer@pressherald.com
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