Willow Glen Resident

Letters & Opinions

Cosentino family loses one of the brothers

By Moryt Milo

One day about 15 years ago, something very unusual happened. A bagger at Cosentino's Markets, a young man who frequently helped me at the store when my children were small, came to my front door to drop off the safety strap I had left tied to the shopping cart.

Back then safety straps were not automatic features on grocery carts and not easy to come by. I had purchased mine through a catalog.

While he was loading the groceries into my trunk, the young bagger noticed I had left it behind as I was maneuvering my son into his car seat. tHe knew where I lived, because he also lived in the neighborhood and had seen us in the front yard.

I was taken aback by this random act of kindness. The strap was such a minor item. Yet he took the time, saying he knew I would need it. His actions qualified as five-star customer service, and I have never forgotten it.

I am incline to believe he did it because that was the mindset of the people whom he worked for, and the kind of individuals the store hired. Then again, it's the Cosentino family, a clan of very special people in our community. The family is well known for its generosity and goodwill toward others. No doubt his actions would have brought a smile to Sal Cosentino's face.

I thought about that moment while I sat in the pew at St. Francis Cabrini Church during the funeral services for Sal. He was the oldest of the four sons, and his death has touched many outside his immediate family.

At the services, I watched his three brothers, Phil, Marino and Dom, walk down the church aisle and an odd vision came to mind: It was like the missing man formation. Their gait still had that determined stride. They walked with a sense of purpose, but their loss was apparent. One of the four had fallen.

In the past, I had the good fortune to spend time speaking with Phil and Dom about their family when I was putting together a story about the business. During those conversations, it was clear from the beginning that family was everything, that the bond between the four brothers was close. Life had been tough, these boys had worked long and hard, but in the end they were able to reap the rewards of their labor.

Through my conversations with Dom and Phil, I felt some of that success emanated from an almost mystical relationship among the four brothers. They each brought a special talent and skill to the grocery business, which combined to create the perfect formula for success.

According to Phil, Sal had a knack for finding those specialty vendors. Now I know all these years I should have been thanking Sal for the unique, hard-to-come-by cooking oils and food items I couldn't find anywhere else. The Marsala wine that I cook with, or the garlic paste I add to a recipe, or the tangy peanut sauce I use. Sal's gourmet knowledge must be the reason I linger in the dressing section wondering which oil, vinegar or cooking wine I should try in my next chicken recipe.

Perhaps that is Sal's legacy to the store, purchasing the one-of-a-kind items that still make it exciting to shop at the market. Nowhere else do I wander down the aisles so I can discover what is new. Shopping at Cosentino's has always been an adventure, one I now realize was part of Sal's doing.

Of course the other three brothers made the experience complete. With Phil's knowledge of produce, Marino's expertise in meat and Dom's knowledge of wines, there was never a need to go elsewhere.

Last Sunday, two days after the funeral, I was at the market, and as I was checking out I asked the cashier how everyone was doing. She said it was tough going back to work on Friday, and it was a bit odd. She said when the employees returned to open the market after the service, the doors wouldn't work properly, and the lights flickered on and off. She looked at me and said, "What do you make of that?"

Perhaps Sal was saying goodbye for the last time, we said to each other.

His brothers wanted to make sure they gave him that opportunity. On the way to the cemetery the hearse took a detour and drove into the Cosentino parking lot, circled the lot one last time, and then headed out. A simple, final farewell, Cosentino style.

Moryt Milo is the editor of the Willow Glen Resident. She can be reached at 408.200.1051 or via email at mmilo@community-newspapers.com.