Remembering Uncle Fred

Six years ago today we lost my Uncle Fred Cicco suddenly at the age of 69 and I still hear his sarcasm and laugh in my head.

Fred was born in San Mango d'Aquino, a hilly stretch of Calabria, Italy, and journeyed through Ellis Island as a one-year-old baby. He became a proud U.S. citizen, raised in Gary, Indiana, after graduating from Lew Wallace High School in '68, served in the Army National Guard, and worked more trades than I can count, from USS to car salesman to advertising He loved to laugh, Chevy Chase, Rodney Dangerfield, SNL, Will Ferrell. He loved a good Italian beef, a hot dog, not the healthiest but he had gusto for gadgets and food so I often felt we were more alike than different. But more than any of that, he loved people. People loved him. He had ideas (even if a bad one like tshirts that said FU meaning Fred University) when you needed one, a joke when you needed to laugh, and an ear when you needed to be heard. Strangers weren't strangers to my Uncle Fred, they were friends he hadn't met yet. He had this rare gift of making you feel like the most important person in the room.

Today maybe I’ll have a baptized beef sandwich 🥪 in his honor.

Obituary: https://www.burnsfuneral.com/m/obituaries/fred-cicco/Memories