Allwood Funeral Home

John C. EnsslinEugene J. Paradiso told the the heroic story of Pvt. Franklin Earl Sigler, a Passaic County resident who received the Congressional Medal of Honor for bravery during the battle of Iwo Jima.(Photo: northjersey.com file photo)Eugene J. Paradiso, the retired former chief clerk of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, was still driving, still tending his vegetable garden and still working as an usher at St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church in Clifton when he died on Saturday at the age of 95 after a brief illness.Now the church is preparing for his funeral Mass, which will be Friday at 10 a.m. "Everyone knew Gene Paradiso," said Clifton Mayor Jim Anzaldi, who also works the aisles at St. Paul's as an usher. "He was a real gentleman. It will be strange not having him there in church with me." Paradiso's very long memory stretched back through World War II, and he used it to good effect. He spent much of his time in retirement telling the story of a local hero, Franklin Earl Sigler, a Marine from Glen Ridge who was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. Paradiso spoke to students and veterans groups as part of an American Legion program called "Honor a Veteran."  Eugene J. Paradiso, a longtime Clifton resident and the former chief clerk of the Passaic County Prosecutor's Office, died Saturday at age 95. (Photo: northjersey.com file photo)Paradiso didn't know Sigler until he went to work for the Prosecutor's Office in 1955. "Pearl Harbor Day, Dec. 7, 1955" is how he described his first day on the job to The Record in a 2002 interview. Sigler was already working for the Prosecutor's Office as a detective and had already received the Congressional Medal of Honor. But like so many heroes of the time, Sigler kept quiet about his exploits at the bloody Marine landing at Iwo Jima in February 1945. "He didn't talk about it much," Paradiso told The Record at a Memorial Day event in 2016. "I want people to know about him." Nearly a mon... (NorthJersey.com)