Salvatore LaPiana

Sam in many ways is the last of a breed. Born at home in Chicago with a midwife just before the onset of the great depression in 1928, he graduated high school and enlisted in the Navy at the end of WWII. His ship stopped in Hawaii on the way to deployment where Sam ended up staying on as they were in need a of clerk typist and he had taken typing class in high school. It turns out that the ship and crew were on their way to take part in the Bikini Atoll atomic testing. Taking typing to be in an otherwise all girl class, was so like our father and as it turned out - the reason we got to share as many years as we did with him when his typing skills led to him being chosen for reassignment in Hawaii. It was also the reason we lost him - he took up smoking as that PX clerk and couldn't shake the habit until after he was diagnosed in 1995 with COPD and left with less than 50% lung capacity. A man of otherwise indomitable will, he continued to smoke until a hip replacement hospital stay later that year gave him the enforced break he needed to stop. He has been a vocal anti-smoker since. Sam met the love of his life on an arranged date after a chance meeting at a bowling alley. He and Irma married in 1950 and all have commented what a lovely couple they make, ever since. They are the personification of love; you won't find a more pure expression. After marriage they moved into a second floor duplex above his parents. He found a job at a dairy where his father-in-law worked, delivering milk with a horse drawn cart and later driving one of those ubiquitous Borden milk trucks. Sam found his career and his second love as a journeyman electrician. He graduated at the top of his apprentice electrical school class in1949. It was something he was born to do. He moved the family to southern California in 1964 to get some relief from the arthritis he'd developed in his back from working outside during the long Chicago winters. There he formed Hi-Lite Electric in 1965 with a partner. Work was getting slow in a recession in the early 70's and in 1972 he moved the family to Orlando to open a branch office where a place called Disney World was being built. His partners bought him out after another recession in 1977 and Sam worked as an estimator for other electrical contracting firms until his retirement in 1993. Sam took up golf with a friend, Gunther, in Chicago. He was an avid golfer for the rest of his life - right through both hip replacements - until his COPD worsened and forced him to give it up. He accumulated many great memories and mementos from that time in his life. It certainly was the inspiration for many of his birthday and Christmas gifts over the years. Sam leaves behind a loving family: his wife Irma, sons Jim & Bob, daughter Louise, daughter in-laws Christie & Karen, son in-law Mike, granddaughters Amanda, Samantha (Sam) & Kimberly and great granddaughter Hailey. We remember him with love and great fondness. He will be a part of each day for the rest of our lives and missed tremendously. Arrangements entrusted to DeGusipe Funeral Home & Crematory 9001 N. Orlando Ave. Maitland, FL. 32751. phone 407-695-2273. Please visit us at DeGusipefuneralhome.com to leave a condolence.

Salvatore LaPiana

January 27, 1928 - December 8, 2010