Last Saturday, during our birthday celebrations, my grandpa passed away at 92 years old. His health started to decline around Thanksgiving where he had an infection in his legs and became bed-ridden, which resulted in pneumonia and ultimately moved out of his apartment and into a hospital. His quality of life had become difficult so it was time to move on.
Serafino Guido led an interesting life. He was born in San Fili Cosenza, Italy. When he was 2 year old, he took a boat to the US into Ellis Island. He told me the story of how he didn't have any money and ate the scraps of food in order to get by. His family settled into Port Chester, New York. He had 3 brothers and 1 sister. All of his family proceeded him except for his younger brother, Patsy. I met his sister and younger brother in New York five years ago when I was in the New York area for a work project and it was neat to see the neighborhood and church where he grew up. Papa joined the marines just before he turned 16 years old but lied about his age in order to get in.
When he was stationed in San Francisco area, he met my grandmother, Bertie, on a trolley. It is a bit ironic since Andy and I met at a bus stop. They married and then my mother was born in Sacramento and shortly after they moved to Arkansas where Bertie's family was from. They had another baby, my uncle Joe, and at a later point divorced and he moved back to New York. In the 1980's, he moved back to Arkansas to be close to Joe and his kids, JP and Lauren.
Papa was a master sergeant and served in WW2 and the Korean Conflict. I remember the stories he used to tell me as a kid and I wonder how he survived since the marines are always on the front line. I have a lot of respect for our military men/women and I try to make a point to tell them that anytime we see them in uniform at the airports.
Uncle Joe coordinated the funeral service in Arkansas on Wednesday. Matthew and I went to the ceremony along with my family. Matthew remembers Papa Guido and we mention him in our prayers often. I thought it would be good for Matthew to see a funeral so he tagged along. He was a good traveler. The funeral was very nice with the military three-volley salute and flag presentation. We think Papa would have liked it.
My siblings: Lori, Mike, Greg, and myself
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