CHEEKTOWAGA – For over thirty years, Randy “Rand” Palmisano was a dedicated employee of the Town of Cheektowaga. Last February, he passed away suddenly in his home. Thursday afternoon his friends and family came together at the Kenneth J. Meyers Recreation Center to honor him.

His brother Mark Palmisano says Randy enjoyed every aspect of his job in the Facilities, Parks, Building & Grounds Department of the town. He even joked with him about how he could never retire because Randy wouldn’t know what to do with all the free time because he loved going to work. The job he enjoyed most was focused on the ice rink’s Zamboni machine.

“My son was playing hockey here at a tournament and Randy was not here. The Zamboni was broke, I came out and said to the head coach ‘What’s going on? The game is supposed to start.’ He said the Zamboni broke. I got on my phone, called my brother, and ten minutes later he was here, another five minutes after that the Zamboni was back on the ice,” said Mr. Palmisano.

The town purchased a new Zamboni for the ice rink last June and dedicated the machine in Randy’s honor Thursday by naming it “Rand-zoni.”

“He loved the Zamboni. It was all part of him so to have this honor is just the greatest honor the town could possibly give him,” added Mr. Palmisano.

“I think we have a guardian angel looking over us now. It’s the best way to describe it,” said Facilities General Crew Chief John J. Jaroszewski, Jr. “He’s going to guide us, and the young guys are going to learn from him.”

In the lobby of the ice rink, the Palmisano family donated Randy’s hockey pads from when he played back high school during the late 1970’s and early 1980’s.

“The pads were the last thing left in Randy’s house and we didn’t know what to do with them. I took them home, and then it dawned on me, I know what to do with them. We gave them to the town, let them have them, so people could know the story of the pads and about Randy’s dedication to the town all those years,” said Mr. Palmisano.