The Reverend Robert E. Villani died on August 24, 2024.  He was the eldest of the 3 sons of Enoch Joseph Villani and Helen Varga.  He was pre-deceased by his parents and his sister, Jeanette, their first child.  Robert was born and raised in Raritan, New Jersey, and attended the local schools there.  He received his college education at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York and attended Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri.  While a student there, he interned at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Kitchner, Ontario.  He graduated from the Seminary in 1961 and was ordained to the Office of the Holy Ministry on June 18, 1961, in his hometown.

               Two weeks later, on July 1st, he and Fay Elizabeth Niles were married.  They are the parents of twin daughters, Elizabeth and Laura.  Robert’s first assignment was to establish a non-mission congregation in the Cohasset and Scituate area on the south shore of Boston.  Christ Lutheran Church in Scituate was established, and Pastor Villani served there until 1966.

               At that time, he received and accepted the call to be the Associate Pastor at First Lutheran Church in Holyoke where he served until 1977.  At that time, he started another new congregation, St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, also in Holyoke.  He served as the founding and first pastor of St. Peter’s for 23 years until he retired in 2000. 

               After a very brief hiatus, Robert served as an interim pastor in the New England Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Amherst in Western Massachusetts and in Rutland and Brattleboro, Vermont, and Wilbraham, West Springfield and South Hadley in Northern Massachusetts.  He retired again in 2007.

               Pastor Villani was active in his community as well.  He served on the Board of the Holyoke Chapter of the American Red Cross, Providence Ministries for the Needy, River Valley Counseling Services, VNA Hospice of Holyoke and the Council for Human Understanding.  He was honored by that Council for “Community Service”.  Robert joined the Rotary Club in 1968 and served on the Board of Directors as Secretary and as President and was awarded the Paul Harris Award of Rotary International. 

               Pastor Villani is pre-deceased by his wife, Fay.  He is survived by their twin daughters, Elizabeth Horree, her husband David, and her son, Robert, and by Laura Roell-Villani and her husband, Charles Roell. 

               Donations may be made to:  Kate’s Kitchen – Providence Ministries, currently of Holyoke, Mass., or Womanshelter Compañeras (now known as Alianza DV), also currently of Holyoke, Mass., St. Peter’s Lutheran Church or the charity of your choice.

               A Memorial Service will be held at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church, 34 Jarvis Ave., Holyoke, MA at 11:00 am on Saturday, the 14th of September 2024.