I first ran into Faith, literally, playing tackle football when Sandy Gleichmann’s brother Allen organized a team called the Backyard Terrors.  Faith and at least one other LaJoy, a brother, played on the opposing team.  They were tough, bold, competitive, and fair.  That’s the way Faith remained.  Add compassion and a love of humor. 

Faith married Charlie Hanson from Glenwood Landing who attended Roslyn High, then went on to work with Long Island Lighting Company.  He proposed to her on the same night that his friend Walt Alexander proposed to Pat Cavanaugh, although neither man knew it until they met later in the evening.  Charlie shared Faith’s zest for good times and they traveled widely in the US.  Faith also became Godmother to Pat and Walt Alexander’s first child.  In fact, they drove Pat to the hospital. “Charlie nearly fell down the flight of stairs, ran over curbs, etc getting us there.”  For many the two families lived on the same street in Central Islip.  Their children remain good friends.

Annette Caselli (Capobianco) rediscovered Faith when a friend married a young woman who had that “Same kind half cocked smile.”  The woman was Faith’s niece Mary Lou.  Annette found Faith to be the same tough and compassionate person she had been in high school.  “She had come to a nice point in her life,” Annette says.  She had the same quick sharp but never nasty wit.  She donated a lot of time to the soup kitchen.  “That’s kind of who Faith was.  She was always interested and interesting.”  When Faith found out she had lung cancer and very little time, Annette saw that she met this challenge as she met others in life.  “She was tough, she was tough, yes.  That’s how she faced cancer.  She would give that little grin and she hung in and she didn’t complain.”  She also never stopped smoking.  She never gave up being herself.  That’s the way she played the game of life.