BOSCARINO, SAMUEL J.

STEVENSVILLE – Samuel J. Boscarino, 69, a longtime businessman in Missoula and the Bitterroot Valley, died [May 28, 1987] in Stevensville.

He took his own life after fighting terminal cancer for 18 months.

He was born Dec. 29, 1917, in Fresno, Calif., to Paul and Lucy Boscarino, who had emigrated from Palarmo, Italy, in 1905. Educated at the St. Alphonse School in Fresno, he began his career at the age of 6 at the Fresno Hotel. He later went on to work at the Hollywood Plaza and the Hollywood Alexander in Los Angeles. He moved to Missoula in 1940 to help open the new Florence Hotel.

In September 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Marines. He served with the Carlson’s [2nd] Raider Battalion for 33 months in New Caledonia, Guam, Okinawa and Japan, until the Japanese surrender.

After the war he joined the Missoula Mercantile staff as display director, a position he held until going into retail sales of mobile homes and recreational vehicles in 1950. For the next 37 years he continued in that field with businesses in Missoula, Hamilton and Stevensville. At the time of his death he operated Boscarino’s Family RV Center in Stevensville.

Mr. Boscarino loved the outdoors, especially fishing, riding, hunting and flying. He was a charter member of the Missoula Sheriff’s Posse.

As a child in Fresno, he was Walt Disney’s first chief Mickey Mouse in the pilot Mickey Mouse Club, preceding Bobby Burgess and Annette Funicello. As chief Mickey Mouse he attended special theater functions and sang on the radio to promote Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse.

He married Hazel Gates Edmonson in 1967 and is now survived by her at the family home in Victor.

Also surviving are two daughters, Mary Goldman, Hamilton, and Margaret Jones, Bellevue, Wash.; a brother, Frank, Los Angeles; three sisters, Josephine Pacini, Antoinette Brentwood and Lena Napolitano, all in Northern California; five grandchildren and several nieces and nephews.

Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Monday at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Stevensville. The Rev. James Gannon will be the celebrant. Burial with military graveside rites will follow at the Victor Cemetery. Whitesitt Funeral Home in Stevensville is in charge of arrangements.

Visitation will be noon to 9 p.m. Sunday and until service time Monday at the funeral home.

The family suggests memorials to the Shodair Children’s Hospital in Helena.