Mescal Marie Azzara

Mescal Marie Azzara
September 15, 1924 to March 8, 2020

Mescal Marie Azzara, 95, (aka Mascal, Mac, Mickey, and Mrs. A.), died in Covington, Indiana on Sunday, March 8, 2020. She was born in Vincennes, Indiana on September 15, 1924 to Willis and Ruby (Whitesett) Sare. The oldest daughter of ten children, she was given many chores and responsibilities. A story she liked to tell was that her method of keeping the house clean while her parents were away was to lock her siblings out of the house.
On the farm where she grew up, Mescal loved to horseback ride. She was the only one in the family that her horse, Cricket, wouldn’t throw.
Mescal was a WWII widow. Her husband, Staff Sergeant Virgil E. Lindburg, AAF, (Lindy) was shot down during his last mission and declared Missing in Action. After the requisite period of time, when Lindy was officially declared dead, Mescal’s strength of character and compassion were evident in what she did with the death gratuity she received from the army. She sent half to Lindy’s mother, and she used the remaining half to attend cosmetology school in Indianapolis.
While in Indianapolis, Mescal went to a USO dance at the Indiana Roof Ballroom, where she met a charming soldier, Philip John Azzara, Sr., who, like her, loved to dance. They married a year later, on December 25, 1946, and settled down in Crane, Indiana. A few years later they moved to Perrysville, Indiana, where they were involved in community activities and, in 1954, opened the Fountain of Youth, a soda shop on Main Street. They created a wholesome place where the local teenagers went after school or ballgames to listen to their favorite music on the jukebox, dance, and drink cherry cokes, shakes, egg creams and malteds. Mescal set up a beauty salon in the back. When she wasn’t with a client, she helped Phil behind the counter and served hamburgers, hot dogs, and sodas.
In 1960, they moved to Commack, New York, where their third child was born. Mescal, always active, went back to work as a teacher’s aide when he began elementary school.
Mescal instilled in her children a deep faith in God. The family belonged to the Commack Baptist Church until it closed in 1980, and then joined the Smithtown Methodist Church, where she volunteered in the Thrift Shop and sang in the church choir.
After Phil’s heart attack, Mescal got a Commercial Driver’s License and intended to drive a school bus, but in the interim she was offered a job as Kitchen Supervisor at King’s Park State Hospital, a position she held for eleven years, until her retirement in 1992 at age 68. After Phil died in June 2014, Mescal fulfilled her dream of returning to her beloved state of Indiana.
Mescal’s favorite pastime was working in her garden and was known for her amazing green thumb. Anything she planted flourished.
She is survived by her three children: Linda Baker (Walter), Angela Baker (John), and Philip Azzara Jr. (Coleen); eight grandchildren: Brian Baker (Sandy), Sean Baker, Amy Daniels, Kevin Baker (Brandi), Philip Azzara III, Ryan Azzara, Courtney Azzara-D'Agostino (Nick), and Brett Azzara; and seven great grandchildren Tristyn Gossett, Julie Baker, Matt Baker, Braylon Daniels, Dane Baker, Cecilia Baker, and Zuzu D’Agostino. Mescal is also survived by her sister Myrtle Dean Romack, her brother, Joe Sare, her sister-in-law, Rose Green, and her beloved nieces, nephews and their families.

Shelby Funeral Home

Shelby Funeral Home