originally posted on 9/17/2021 3:47:23 AM
Photo: Rus Ozana Collection. View full-sized image.
Toni Picariello, 72, lost her fight with COVID-19 on Monday, September 6. She had been an ACE member since 1993. Before moving from Massachusetts to South Carolina in 2017, she was an attendee at nearly all the New England regional events. Prior to her move, Toni’s father, Lou; daughter Angie; and grandson Miles were ACE members as well. Toni and her dad were featured in a WFSB Eyewitness News (Rocky Hill, Connecticut) article in May 2017, covering Wooden Warrior Day at Quassy Amusement Park (Middlebury, Connecticut), discussing their love of roller coasters and her dad’s age, 91 at the time.
In 2019, Toni met up with three of her old ACE New England members at Carowinds for the beginning of a 1,000+ mile, four-park, seven-mountain-coaster-riding trip, nicknamed “Geezers Go South” (with custom designed T-shirts), as all four of us were “of a certain age.” Toni had driven her minivan from her Conway, South Carolina, home to meet us and did all the driving for the trip. With her trusty GPS device positioned on the dash, she got us to every destination via highways, local state routes and a wild, unpaved section of road across a mountainous area of Georgia. With steep hills, hairpin turns and deep ruts in the road (some filled with water!), we wondered at times if we (or the minivan) would actually make it, unscathed, to our next destination. We were incredibly relived to reach the highest point of the mountain, then encounter people on the downward side, hiking and sightseeing in what was apparently a very popular area (but certainly not on the side of the mountain from which we came). To this day, we still cannot believe that mountainous route was shorter or faster than if we had stayed on the road that went around the mountain.
Once moved to her new home, Toni attended several of her new region’s local events and had plans to reunite with her New England ACE friends at the past two Coaster Cons, but unfortunately, the timing didn’t work out in her favor.
She is survived by her father, Lou; daughters Jodie and Angie (son-in-law Sam); grandsons Miles and Eliot; brother, Michael; sister, Lenora; several nieces and nephews; and a wealth of ACE “family.”
— Rus Ozana, ACE New England Regional Representative
#ACENews