The Rev. George Castano knew he had to keep his parishioners interested, so sometimes he put his elbows on the pulpit and said, “Now, listen, this next part is important.”
“Everyone loved him,” said Bill Dorn, a parishioner at Ascension Episcopal Church, where Castano was a pastoral assistant since 1989.
Castano, also known for his work with the homeless, his marble collection and his love of cowboy movies, died at his home May 17. He was 92.
Castano “had a flair for the dramatic,” said his daughter Linda Castano Berg of Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.
His idea on preaching was: “Tell the people what you’re about to tell them, then tell that, and then tell them what you just told them. At least be entertaining.”
Castano went beyond entertaining. He’d cut the hair of homeless men who showed up at the Denver church where he was pastor for 18 years, St. Peter and St. Mary Episcopal Church. Then he’d offer them a meal and maybe steer them to a job.
“He had a huge, huge heart, was kind of irreverent and outspoken, but down to earth,” said Castano Berg.
He counseled people in the parish as well as alcoholics and sex offenders, said his daughter Anna Castano of Denver. “He just generally liked helping people,” she said.
Dorn called him a rare priest who was good at counseling, preaching and scholarship.
Castano’s interests included collecting marbles and Western movies. No one knows the number, but the marbles were in boxes, jars, drawers and every other kind of container. He’d collected them since he was a kid, and “some of them are gorgeous,” said Dorn.
He also collected Western bronze sculptures. “He was in love with the West,” said Castano Berg.
Peter George Castano was born in Brockton, Mass., on Oct. 26, 1918, and earned a degree in mechanical engineering at Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston. He helped put himself through college by playing a guitar in Boston.
He had his own engineering company until he decided in his early 40s to go to seminary and become a priest.
He earned his divinity degree at the Episcopal Theological Seminary in Lexington, Ky., and served a church in Kentucky before moving to Colorado.
He married Alyce Arms in 1940, and she later died.
He married Cheryl Ann Granot; she also died.
He was a single father raising two kids.
“We had about 17 housekeepers,” said Castano Berg, because her father was particular about who watched over his children.
In addition to his daughters, he is survived by two sons: Andrew Castano of Denver and Jim Castano of Nicholasville, Ky.; four grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.
Virginia Culver: 303-954-1223 or vculver@denverpost.com
