Verni M. Mussetto

BURLESON — On November 14, 2012, Verni M. Mussetto, beloved wife of retired U.S. Navy Capt. Bruno Mussetto, died peacefully in her sleep after a long illness, surrounded by her family: Her husband, Bruno; her daughter, Teresa; and her granddaughter, Hannah Rose.  Service: 10 a.m. Friday, Nov. 16, 2012 at St. Ann Catholic Church. Interment: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 20, 2012 in Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery. Visitation: 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, 2012 at the funeral home with the reciting of the rosary at 7:30 p.m. Verni was born in Hartland, W.Va., on April 28, 1927, to George Henry Comstock Ellison and Cynthia Jane Ellison. She was the last surviving member of 12 Ellison brothers and sisters. She graduated from Clay County High School in 1945 and married her college sweetheart, Bruno, in 1948. Throughout 64 years of mutually-devoted marriage, Verni was a gifted and elegant homemaker, and as the wife of a career U.S. Navy officer always fulfilled beyond measure the official and social functions associated with that role. She was a leader and mentor to younger Navy wives and a consummate hostess to dignitaries both here and abroad. Some years later, to encourage the attributes characteristic of a long Navy life, Verni co-founded with Bruno the “Patriotic Creed” Scholarship, awarded to students in Texas, West Virginia and Florida who demonstrate academic excellence and exemplary American patriotism. In addition to these accomplishments, Verni regularly volunteered in schools and hospitals. She often worked for the American Red Cross, providing volunteer services in such diverse places as the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Diego, Calif., where she assisted in processing Vietnamese refugees arriving in the United States and the Philippine Naval Hospital in Manila. She was very proud of her Red Cross Pin. After she and Bruno retired in 1977, they traveled from coast to coast in a motor home for one year before finally settling in Burleson. They also maintained a year-round second home in West Virginia on the scenic Elk River, near where Verni was born. Verni’s family and the many others whose lives she touched with her loving kindness, thoughtfulness, generosity and affection will dearly miss and remember her.