Monroe residents bringing refuse and demolition materials to the landfill on Garder Road over the past decade most likely encountered town employee Allen J. Cassatt, affectionately known as “Bud” to those closest to him. He also liked interacting with customers coming in for fill ups at the Sport Hill Service Station in Fairfield, where he worked as a gas station attendant.
Many of the customers may not have known they were dealing with a man with a storied past of serving his country in the U.S. armed forces. Cassatt, 73, of Fairfield, who battled complications from Agent Orange throughout much of his life, died on December 5, 2024.
“Allen was just heroic and he made sure the mission got done,” said Rosie Cassatt, his wife of 32 years. “Nothing stopped him. He was just a brave guy in every aspect of his life. He never let things get to him. He would just carry on like a good soldier.”
During the Vietnam War, a time when many young men tried to avoid being drafted, Cassatt’s father had to be present for him to enlist in the Marines, because he was only 17. As a Marine, Cassatt participated in 175 combat missions in Vietnam over his four years of service.
Unsatisfied with civilian life, Cassatt, who enjoyed working on helicopters, gaining expertise on Blackhawks, later tried to enlist in the Air Force. When the recruitment office already fulfilled its quota, Cassatt enlisted in the Army instead, where he served for 17 years, working his way up the ranks to sergeant first class.
He was stationed at the Demilitarized Zone, a heavily fortified border between North and South Korea, and participated in the Grenada invasion with the 82nd Airborne.
Cassatt later joined the Connecticut National Guard for four years, earning and later retiring with the rank of sergeant first class. Within the first three months, he was stationed in Iraq for Operation Desert Storm.
“He and one guy in the unit were combat veterans,” Rosie said during a telephone interview. “The rest had never been deployed.”
On Saturday, Jan. 11, Cassatt’s funeral was held at The Congregational Church of Easton. During a ceremony, two men from the Army presented a flag to Rosie.
“Allen hated organ music, so we had military music,” she said. “In the end, we had the song, ‘The Rose’ by Bette Midler and ‘Candle in the Window’ by Creedence Clearwater Revival, one of his favorite groups.”
Monroe Public Works Director Chris Nowacki said people wore American flag pins at the service.
“It speaks to the respect and love he had for the country,” Nowacki said. “It shows through the length of his service. He was extremely proud of his service to his country and, more importantly, proud of his country.”
“He was a robust character,” Nowacki continued. “He will be sadly missed. I’m glad to have him as part of the stories to share about my time working for Monroe. He was a hoot of a man.”
“He was just a nice guy,” said David Saad, owner of the Sport Hill service station and Cassatt’s friend. “He talked to the customers. Everybody liked him. He was a congenial guy. He was more than a gas pumper to these people. They enjoyed conversations with him — he liked to talk about everything.”
“He was more than an employee,” Saad added. “He was a good patriot. He always talked about the country and his military service. He did a good service to his country.”
‘Bud Man’
Born to parents Harry and Betty Cassatt in Detroit, Allen Cassatt was one of five children. They were not from a wealthy family, according to Rosie, who said Cassatt’s grandmother raised 13 children in a shack with no running water.
Though Cassatt was born in Detroit, Rosie said her husband’s family moved when he was age 8 or 9, and he was raised in the backwoods of Huntingdon, Penn.
“They were very poor,” Rosie said. “Their ‘toys’ were either jumping off ropes with tires into the creek or riding the hood of a car down a shale mountain. On days off from school, they would leave at 8:30 – 9 a.m. and come back for supper by 5 at night.”
A nurse of 47 years, Rosie first met Cassatt while stopping at a gas station he was working at in New Jersey, which was a second job, while he saved up for a new motorcycle.
“I had a Firebird and the name on my car was ‘Special Lady’ and I had Harley stickers,” Rosie recalled, “and he said, ‘I have a Harley.’ I thought, ‘this is just come on line,’ but he did — and that was the start of it.”
“He loved riding his motorcycle,” Rosie said. “He had a 1988 Harley Davidson Sportster Hugger. He bought it new. We loved riding together. It was a lot of fun. I eventually had to stop, because I had a bad foot.”
Early on in their relationships, the couple came up with nicknames for each other. Cassatt was “Bud Man,” named after his favorite beer, and Rosie was “The Rose.”
She said Cassatt was extremely handy and could fix anything, from cars and motorcycles to boats — and he liked to have fun.
Go-karts, dirt bikes …
Cassatt had three sons from a previous marriage: Andrew Yeager, Shawn Cassatt and Joshua Cassatt, as well as stepchildren Robert Cowan and Kelly Garretson.
“Allen was a son, a soldier, a husband, a father and a grandfather,” Shawn said in a letter read at Cassatt’s funeral. “Don’t know which one he was good at, but lord knows he tried his best at all of them.”
“My memories of Dad were as a kid riding go-karts in Kansas, dirt bikes in North Carolina and hanging out in airfields or hangers at his work in New Jersey,” Shawn wrote. “My most fond ones were of us going out getting pizza, going to the video store and watching some horror, action or war movie to which it’s hard to do sometimes, because he would always point out that the weapons don’t sound that way nor do the helicopters. This haunted me for years.”
Both enjoyed listening to oldies in the kitchen, while eating cheese.
Rosie said her husband loved rock and roll, including Creedence Clearwater Revival, Tina Turner, Marvin Gaye, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and groups like The Ronettes and The Supremes.
In Andrew’s letter at his father’s funeral, he said Cassatt was not his biological father, though Cassatt never made him feel that way.
“Dad taught me a lot growing up about hard work, resilience, self-reliance and to not be afraid to take risks,” Andrew wrote. “If you get it wrong, take your lickings and try to learn something. No point in taking life too seriously, no one gets out alive. His most enduring lesson was the importance of responsibility.”
“Rosie, thank you for seeing through Dad’s scrappy exterior, to the gentle soul underneath — and for loving him so much,” Andrew wrote.
A doting grandfather
Rosie said her husband was close to her daughter, Kelly and her husband Michael. And Robert Cowan, ordered a jacket for Cassatt with the Army star and other insignias hand-sown into it for him.
“Kids loved him. He was a little guy. He was definitely on their level with how he played,” Rosie said of Cassatt’s interactions with their grandchildren. “He loved games and cartoons. They always had a good time. He was an absolute great grandfather. The kids loved him and he did so much with them.”
Rosie said Cassatt made breakfast for their grandson, Hunter, who loves bacon.
Granddaughter, Nikara, who goes by Nikki, was a little girl who loved going into her grandmother’s pantry to make things for Cassatt.
“She made these concoctions and he would try them all, no matter how bad it was,” Rosie said with a laugh.
“They would watch a crazy cartoon and be laughing so hard they fell off the bed,” Rosie said of Cassatt and their grandchildren. “They went to the beach and watched Marvel movies.”
The animal whisperer
“He never wanted to stop working,” Rosie said of Cassatt. “He loved his job. He loved the people and he loved animals visiting him — the pet parents driving to the service station. We did a lot of rescues of dogs and kitties. He was the original animal whisperer. Dogs and cats loved him. Everybody loved him.”
Whenever animal control or a rescue asked the Cassatts to foster “a tough dog” who was aggressive, a problem or had special needs, Rosie said they always behaved for Allen.
“They’d come in the house and usually wouldn’t leave,” she said. “They knew they were in their forever place.”
Rosie still has two dogs and several cats.
“They’re all senior citizens, all rescues, all have their individual stories,” she said. “We rescued a lot of animals through the years, took in some that were sick, special needs. We rescued lot of German shepherds in the beginning, then God decided we should save some little dogs. A lot of what people call feral cats, none are now. They turned into lap cats and some are the best cats ever.”
“There wasn’t an animal my husband couldn’t turn around,” Rosie said, adding his last act was feeding their cat, Bobbie, downstairs.
Of what she misses most about her late husband, Rosie said, “just having him here. The house is very quiet. In the evenings we were kind of stay at home people over the last six years, getting the animals all set on the blankets, then watching a good series on Netflix with snacks. I miss that a lot. I haven’t watched anything since he passed.”
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Thank you for the lovely article about my grandfather