By GEORGETT ROBERTS and ANGELA MONTEFINISE
June 1, 2008
The fiancée of the crane operator killed in Friday's Upper East Side disaster emerged yesterday shaken with grief.
Just a day earlier, in a heartbreaking act, Janine Belcastro, who was to marry Donald Leo, had to call their priest and cancel an appointment to go over details for the ceremony.
"She is not holding up well," her sister, Lynda, 30, told The Post. "It was a tough night. Not much sleep."
Belcastro, 32, was so broken up that friends had to force her to eat. She needed help as she walked to a car and then broke down sobbing.
"She was extremely happy" about getting married, said Lynda, adding that hours before the crane collapse, her sister text-messaged her, "Do you have any friends you want to bring to my awesome wedding?"
The couple planned to get married at the Church of the Precious Blood in Monmouth Beach, NJ, on June 21 at a beach-themed reception.
On Friday night, Belcastro and Leo - who met on the Jersey Shore in 2002 - were supposed to finalize plans for the ceremony with the Rev. John Kielb.
Leo switched work shifts to make the appointment - he wound up in the ill-fated crane cab, and she had to phone in a grim cancellation.
"She was upset and told me, 'We're supposed to see you tonight, but we can't,' " Kielb said. "She told me, 'He died at work today.' "
Services for Donald Leo will take place at the Hanley Funeral Home in New Dorp, SI, Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. with a Mass afterward at Our Lady Queen of Peace Church.
