Samuel Merlino

Samuel Joseph Merlino of Erie, age 87, passed away peacefully on Saturday morning 30 May 2026 after a decline in health. Sam was born 19 March 1939 and grew up on the West side of Erie, PA. He was the only child of the late Samuel James Merlino and Assunta (Sue) DiBello, they resided at West 16th and Liberty in Erie's Little Italy, where all of his Sicilian and Italian immigrant grandparents had settled in the early 1900s.

He started working at the age of 7 for his grandparents, Santo and Calogera. He cleaned and stocked their grocery store at 20th and Cascade and helped his grandmother with her fruit stand at the Erie Central Market. He often recalled how much he enjoyed the making of wine with his father, grandfather and grandmothers and feasting on the massive Italian dinners they prepared well into the 1970s. As a boy and teenager, he worked for his father every night after school in their grocery "Sam's Market" on 21st and Browns Avenue. He stocked the shelves and also made deliveries by bicycle for 5 years. He worked next at Arrow Drug store on 18th and Liberty during high school. Sam attended Catholic schools, graduated from Cathedral Prep in 1957 and joined the U.S. Navy serving as a Communications Technician Seaman Apprentice from 1957 to 1961, having received training in San Diego and then being posted in Naval Communications Stations in Adak, Alaska and Incirlik, Turkey. Most of his service was overseas, where he was part of the secretive team of telegraph operators and interpreters who gathered Soviet intelligence on the periphery of Warsaw Pact nations during the Cold War. A lifelong Democrat and labor union man, he was deeply proud to be an Italian-American and U.S. military veteran.

After his honorable discharge from the Navy, he married Louise Gregory, the love of his life, whom he met just before entering the military and to whom he remained devoted for 65 years. In the 1960s, Sam attended school at night, studied electronics, and became an electrician by trade. For a short time, he worked with his father at Riley Stoker maintaining industrial boilers and firing equipment, after which he took a job with RCA repairing televisions and radio equipment and installing antennas. He joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union and for many years had a series of construction jobs as an electrician installing and maintaining electrical panels and equipment. Despite recessions and layoffs throughout the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s he did electrical work at General Electric wiring subway and rapid transit cars and then worked for Erie Press Systems as a senior quality control inspector of industrial equipment for many years before he retired in 2004. He also worked multiple shifts and side jobs to support the family to whom he had dedicated all of his resources and waking life.

Papa Sam was a warm, selfless, ever affectionate father and devoted husband with a goofy sense of humor, sometimes dark, sometimes droll. Over the course of his life, he swam, snorkeled, shot a lot of pool (eight-ball and billiards), danced, drank and ate somewhat more than the recommended daily allowance, played golf, loved action movies, and listened to Elvis, Johnny Cash and Phil Collins. Sam had a hard, unloving father but somehow became himself a model of fortitude and compassion. In difficult economic times and health setbacks Sam was the rock of the family. His parents, wife, and kids gave him agita, nevertheless he enjoyed immensely their company and escapades, especially his grandchildren. Papa Sam also raised and adored several dogs, all of whom thrived under his loving kindness. He laughed easily and it was contagious to all who knew him.

Sam is survived by his loving wife, Louise and their three children, Scott Merlino, his wife Joanna (Friesner), Darcy Ellis, Kimberly Carnicelli and her husband Bruce, as well as several grandchildren, Bella Merlino, Sam Merlino, Jessica Szparaga, her husband Dylan), Karly Carnicelli, Andrea Carnicelli, Emilee Ornelas, her husband Alex, and great grandchild Lorenzo and Rosalia Ornelas.

At the family’s request, no calling hours will be observed. A private interment will be held at a later date at Gate of Heaven Cemetery. The family requests any donations be made to the ANNA Shelter, 1555 East 10th Street, Erie, PA 16511 or St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38101. Arrangements are being handled by the Dusckas Funeral Home and Cremation Services, Inc. Condolences may be sent to www.dusckasfuneralhomes.com.