Organizers celebrate success of first Furia Memorial Golf Tournament

Although it was pouring rain outside, there was a special ray of sunshine inside Ruth Furia’s home in Coventry Sunday afternoon.

Sisters Lilly and Olivia Furia – with help from their grandmother, Ruth – presented a $10,000 donation to the Boston Children’s Hospital Cardiac Unit in memory of their late grandfather, Johnston businessman, coach, and Vietnam veteran John A. Furia Jr.

The money was raised during the first-ever John A. Furia Jr. Memorial Golf Tournament, which was played in August at Connecticut National Golf Club in Putnam, Conn.

Before his passing earlier this year, the late Furia told his longtime friend and fellow Vietnam veteran Vin LaFazia he wanted to do something for the hospital’s cardiac unit in recognition of the loving care and treatment Olivia received there during several successful surgeries.

LaFazia and his wife Linda – along with their friends Johnston attorney Steven M. Placella and his wife Cindy – joined forces and organized a committee that included many people who are involved in the Johnston Memorial Cancer Events. Their efforts produced the highly successful golf tournament.

As way of saying thanks to her many friends who helped make the tourney and overwhelming success, Ruth hosted an “appreciation buffet” Sunday that included the unveiling and presentation of the $10,000 check.

“I wish I could have everyone who participated over for dinner,” said Ruth, who once owned and operated Ruthie Restaurant on Atwood Avenue in Johnston. “We are so very grateful and so very honored to have so many wonderful people in our lives.”

“Today, we’re celebrating two success stories,” Linda LaFazia said. “The golf tourney was a wonderful tribute to John. Though he had a rough exterior, he would be the first person in line to help if you needed him. Of course, we are all very happy that Olivia’s surgeries have gone so well and that we are able to five back to the Hospital.”

Perhaps Placella, while reminiscing about the many “great times” he and Vin LaFazia shared with the Furias, best summed up the day.

“John was a very unique and generous man, most especially when it came to disadvantaged children,” he said. “He would have extremely proud of his friends and family and the result or raising over $10,000 for the Boston Children’s Hospital.”

Placella continued: “But this effort and event was also an acknowledgement of the love and respect that we all have for John’s wife, Ruth. She’s affectionately known by us as ‘St. Ruth’ ... She is simply one of the best persons that I have ever had the pleasure to meet.”

To which Placella’s wife Cindy added: “Ask anyone who knows her, and he or she will say the same thing – Ruth is super special.”

Steve Placella and praised the LaFazias, who he said “have teamed up to spearhead so many charitable ventures in this town.”

“They are the true reason that this event was as successful as it was,” he said. “The rest of us who helped were simply along for the ride.”

Placella also spoke of the special bond shared by John Furia and Vin LaFazia.

“They were seen every weekday morning at Brewed Awakenings offering their perspective on the world, country, state, and town through the eyes of two Vietnam veterans,” Placella said. “And to be part of their conversations, discussions, and arguments was truly special … They were best friends who often argued like brothers and played pranks on each other. But in the end, they always had each other’s back. Theirs was a special bond, one that had its beginning 45 years ago and 5,000 miles away.”