Carmine "Carmen" Joseph La Mesa

Grants Pass, Oregon - Carmine (Carmen) Joseph La Mesa, 91, passed away peacefully Saturday May 25, 2024 at Asante Three Rivers Medical Center.

        Carmine (Carmen) Joseph La Mesa was born on October 10, 1932 in Winsted CT.  Born to the late Sicilian immigrants, Antonio La Mesa and Carmelina (Bazzano), he was the youngest of 7 children; Tony, Terry, Ernestine, Josephine, Lucile, Paul and Carmen. He attended Winsted High School before enlisting in the army. He served in the 169th Infantry Regiment during the Korean War and was awarded the Army of Occupation Medal Germany. After the service he attended the Hart College of Music where he met and eventually married Verna Swanson. They had 8 children (Michael, Diana, Joan, David, James, John, Mark and Philip). 

        Carmen had a larger than life personality and made friends wherever he went. He played with many of the top jazz musicians and teamed up with the Al Jarvis Trio playing many clubs throughout New England and later in New Mexico and California. He was well known in Torrington for bringing the art and beauty of music to Litchfield County when he opened Litchfield County Music Center selling musical instruments of all types and providing music instructions from grade school students to college level students. While running the music store, he played music on weekends in his band “Here, There, and Everywhere”, which eventually evolved into a family band called “Sal Grillo and Company”. Sal Grillo & Company included son Michael (Road Manager), son’s David (Vocals and Guitar) and James (Bass) and of course cousin Sal (Vocals and  Keyboards). The band played gigs from Providence, RI to Hollywood, CA, and from Minot, ND to Brownsville, TX. His travels eventually brought him to Reno where he met and married the late Irene Ingalls, formerly of Arkansas.  In Reno, he hosted a comedy and entertainment TV show called “Reno Backstage” with son Michael assisting the production of the show before settling in as a food distributor for Sysco Foods.

        After becoming enamored with Peruvian Paso’s he started breeding Peruvian Paso’s as show horses. Around the same time Carmen met his soul mate Mozelle Vandever and wife of 34 years. Together they relocated to Williams, Oregon, established their dream ranch called Cedar Springs Ranch and continued breeding Peruvian Pasos while also raising chickens, sheep, cows and other animals on the ranch.

        With a strong heritage in his Sicilian roots, family mattered above all else to Carmen.  His children and grandchildren as well as his siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins often visited he and Mozelle on the ranch.  He was an avid authentic Italian cook and would always cook large feasts for family gatherings often up to a week at a time. Sunday’s were reserved for family, whether it was football games, pasta fixes, card games or a summer BBQ.  Whenever he would travel back East it was like he never left, visiting with his siblings always became a live comedy act - they simply brought out the best in each other.

        After retirement, he and Mozelle took up painting. They joined a club called “The Brush Strokers” in Grants Pass and enjoyed about 9 years worth of studies, fellowship with other artists and opportunities to display his work. He started with portraits of family members and friends and quickly became enchanted with Native American figures. His works were featured in several art displays and he won several awards and also achieved a Blue Ribbon for one of his Ojibwe Native American portraits.

        Carmen was beloved by anyone who got to know him but most of all his family. He is survived by his beloved wife, Mozelle, 7 children (Michael, Diana, Joan, James, John, Mark and Philip) and step daughter Lynette, 9 Grandchildren, 12 Great Grandchildren, a sister-in-law Rita Duff and many, many cousins and other relatives. He was the last patriarch of the La Mesa family in his generation and predeceased by his parents Antonio La Mesa and Carmelina (Bazzano) and siblings Anthony La Mesa, Theresa (La Mesa) and her husband Andrew Rudnansky, Ernestine (La Mesa) and husband William Frechette, Josephine (La Mesa) and her husband Charles Gelzinis,  Lucile (La Mesa) and her husband Bill Cook, Paul La Mesa and his wife Inga Rosshart, and Carmen’s first wife Verna Swanson, second Wife Irene Ingals, and son David La Mesa.  

        Memorial Services will be held Saturday, June 29, 2024, at 10:00a.m. at Gleeson-Ryan Funeral Home, 258 Prospect St., Torrington. Burial with Full Military Honors will follow in St. Joseph Cemetery, Winsted. Following the burial, there will be a gathering at Dave Killiany’s residence, at 426 Platt Hill Rd, Winsted, CT for a dinner, all family/friends are invited.

In lieu of flowers for the Memorial Service, flowers can be sent to Mozelle La Mesa at 13375 Water Gap Road, Williams, Oregon 97540.

        Donations can be made in Carmen La Mesa’s name at the Veterans Administration, 520 Southwest Ramsey Avenue, 102, Grants Pass, OR 97527. (https://www.va.gov/southern-oregon-health-care/work-with-us/volunteer-or-donate/#monetary-and-non-monetary-dona)

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