LEBANON — Tow truck drivers from around the Upper Valley are planning an informal parade on Sunday as part of the memorial service for William Grizzaffi, a longtime Lebanon resident and owner of a towing company who died in an accident in Maine last weekend.
On Monday, two days after the 52-year-old Grizzaffi was hit and killed by a train in Maine, his good friend Bart Daley remembered him as a fun-loving person who was popular among his group of friends.
“This is going to rock people to their core,” Daley said.
The incident happened Saturday night when Grizzaffi; his wife, Lori; and a friend were walking back to their motel from downtown Old Orchard Beach in Maine, according to Old Orchard Beach Police Capt. David Hemingway. He said the group was crossing the train tracks on their way to the hotel when Grizzaffi hesitated.
“He was standing on the tracks,” Hemingway said, adding that Grizzaffi began to walk off the tracks “slowly” when the train got closer, but couldn’t make it to safety before he was struck and killed.
Hemingway said he believes alcohol may have played a factor. Maine officials said toxicology tests are pending but not expected for a few weeks. “We don’t have any indication it was a suicide,” nor suspicious, Hemingway said.
Hemingway also said Amtrak trains run much more quickly than other freight trains that come through the area. Local police as well as Amtrak police and Pan Am Railroad police are investigating the incident.
“My heart is crushed,” Grizzaffi’s wife of 24 years, Lori Grizzaffi, said in an interview Tuesday. “He’s a hard worker, a provider; he took care of his family.”
Daley was among many people struggling with the news this week. He said he has known Grizzaffi — “Billy” to his friends — since they were in middle school together in the 1980s.
In 1995 Grizzaffi started his own towing company, which became Grizzaffi Towing and Recovery in Lebanon, Daley said, adding that Grizzaffi was such a hard worker “I don’t think he slept for 30 years.”
As he grew his business, Grizzaffi made a name for himself in and around Lebanon.
“You couldn’t travel anywhere in the Upper Valley where he wasn’t known,” Daley said. “His trucks were everywhere and he was everywhere. That’s just the way it was. He built an empire.”
Many also remember Grizzaffi as someone who enjoyed getting family and friends together for camping trips, holiday parties — which Daley called “legendary” — or just a gathering at his house.
One of those friends was Rick Belanger, who lives near Manchester and met Grizzaffi nearly 30 years ago at a New Hampshire Towing Association event. Despite the distance between them, Grizzaffi would often invite Belanger to come camping with his family, or to take a vacation in Maine.
“We kind of hit it off. He was so happy-go-lucky,” Belanger said. “If you knew Billy, then everyone was having a good time.”
Lori Grizzaffi echoed Belanger’s words, saying the group of friends often took trips to Maine, a place Grizzaffi loved. They were there for a good friend’s birthday party when her husband was killed, she said.
Despite his outgoing nature, Grizzaffi and his wife had recently suffered a family tragedy. One of their two daughters, 22-year-old Kacey Grizzaffi, who was pregnant with twins, died in February of a drug overdose. (Christopher Santolucito, the man who allegedly sold Kacey heroin, has been charged in connection with her death.)
Daley said Grizzaffi had been struggling with the loss of his daughter and unborn grandchildren.
“Kacey was just like him,” Daley said. “When she died, a big chunk of him went with her.”
The family’s lives have been marked by other difficulties as well.
Another daughter, Katie, was dating Austin Colson, the 19-year-old Royalton man who was shot and killed in early 2018.
And in 2016, Grizzaffi pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of domestic violence, and was issued a fine. Lori Grizzaffi declined to address the incident, saying, “It’s done and gone and old.”
“I know he loved me and I loved him,” she added.
Now, Lori Grizzaffi says she wants to keep the trucking company going in her husband’s honor, adding that friends of theirs have already offered to help her keep it running for free.
To honor Grizzaffi, tow truck drivers will hold a “tow truck parade” starting at the Ricker Funeral Home in Lebanon at noon on Sunday and returning to the funeral home for “calling hours” between 2 and 5 p.m., according to Grizzaffi’s obituary.
Anna Merriman can be reached at amerriman@vnews.com or 603-727-3216.