Betsy Anne Cassella, 60, of Sandy Hook died July 23 at Regional Hospice Center for Comfort Care and Healing in Danbury. She was lovingly surrounded by family and friends at the time of her passing. Ms Cassella had been waging a long, hard-fought battle with lung cancer and finally succumbed to the disease. She was born in Greenwich, on August 24, 1955, to Grace Elizabeth "Betty" (Humphreys) and Roland Carl Casperson, late of Westport. She was the fourth child of what became a family of fivesiblings.regionalhospicect.org or to the American Cancer Society, cancer.org.

She had the good fortune of being raised in bucolic Westport for the first 20 years of her life. Through her work during her teen years as a candy striper, serving local hospitals, she developed her lifelong interest in nursing. Sensitive, compassionate, and empathetic, she set her sights on the nursing profession at an early age. Ms Cassella graduated from Staples High School in 1973, and she then went on to earn a nursing degree at Norwalk Community College.

She married the love of her life, Paul Cassella, on November 22, 1984. Together they raised their two sons, Christopher and Gregory. Ms Cassella dedicated herself to her family first while pursuing her professional passion of providing compassionate health care and comfort to the elderly. She felt that the elderly were underserved in our society when their health began to fail. She believed they deserved gratitude and respect in their later years, which she delivered with charm, humor, and dedication throughout her career.

Over the past 30 years, Ms Cassella worked at many local health care facilities delivering on her promise to offer a compassionate experience for the elderly. She was in residence at Fairfield Manor, Heritage Heights, Bethel Health Care, and was a private care nurse to Bill Blass. Her last 15 years were spent on the nursing management staff at The Lutheran Home of Southbury, until she was forced to leave for health reasons of her own.

Her devoted husband Paul and her sons Christopher and Gregory,  all of Sandy Hook; mother-in-law Loreta Cassella of Cusano Mutri, Italy; sister Lee Rogers and her husband, Barry, and their sons, all of Delafield, Wis.; brothers Peter Casperson and his stepdaughter of New York City and Truro, Mass., James Casperson and his wife, Nancy, and their children, of Winchendon, Mass., and Robert Casperson and his wife, Linda, of Danbury survive her. Counted among her dearest friends and supporters during her illness were Doreen Lominy, Linda Casperson, and Chris Walmsley.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on August 19 at 10:30 am in St Peter Roman Catholic Church, 121 Main Street, Danbury, with Father Gregg Mecca officiating.

Interment will be at the Walnut Grove Cemetery, Meriden, where Ms Cassella will lay in rest with her mother and maternal grandparents.

Ms Cassella will be dearly missed by all who loved her; her heart, humility, compassion, and humor were an inspiration. God bless and keep her kind and gentle soul at peace.

Donations in Ms Cassella's memory may be made to Regional Hospice and Home Care of Western Connecticut, 30 Milestone Road, Danbury CT 06810,

Jowdy-Kane Funeral Home of Danbury is in charge of arrangements.