Final Salute

NAUGATUCK – Joseph J. Wojtczak Jr., age 83, beloved husband of Thelma (Valentine) Wojtczak, passed away on Sunday, Aug. 15, 2021, at Saint Mary’s Hospital.

Joe was born in Waterbury on June 1, 1938, a son of the late Joseph J. Wojtczak Sr. and Cecelia T. (Smolinski) Tata. He graduated from St. Hedwig’s School, attended Sacred Heart High School for three years, and transferred to Naugatuck High School, graduating in 1955, where he met his wife of 64 years, Thelma Valentine. They married in 1957.

Joe proudly served his country in the United States Navy. He served with the U.S. Naval Seabees of Davisville, R.I., where he played basketball, and they won the Naval District Championship in 1959. He was discharged from the Reserves in 1962.

He began working for Uniroyal Chemical Division in 1957 for many years until his retirement in 1991. From there, Joe worked security at Uniroyal in Middlebury, the Sheriff’s Department, and the United States Postal Service in Woodbridge.

He eventually retired to spend many winters in Florida to play his beloved game of golf. He still holds the record at Hop Brook Golf Course with the lowest round of 29.

He was a member of the Polish Falcons, Naugatuck Elks Lodge 967, and Catholic War Veterans. Joe was a longtime active member of St. Hedwig Church, where he served as a reader.

In addition to his wife Thelma, he leaves his two sons, Joseph Wojtczak and his wife Renee, and Kevin Wojtczak and his fiancee Barbara; his daughter Kim Buelterman; his six grandchildren, Megan Winters, Amy Ballard, Emma Jo, Julia, Emmett and Sarah; his six great-grandchildren; his two sisters; and several nieces and nephews.

His funeral will be on Friday, Aug. 20, at 11:30 a.m. from the Naugatuck Valley Memorial/Fitzgerald-Zembruski Funeral Home, 240 N. Main St., Naugatuck, to St. Vincent Ferrer Church, 1006 New Haven Road, Naugatuck, for a Mass of Christian Burial at noon. Visitation will be on Friday morning from 9 to 11:30 a.m. at the funeral home. Members of the Naugatuck Veterans Council will meet on Friday at 11 a.m. at the funeral home. Facial masks and social distancing will be required at the services. Burial with military honors will follow in St. James Cemetery.

To send an online condolence, please visit naugatuckvalleymemorial.com.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions to honor Joe’s memory may be made to St. Jude Children’s Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.