Anthony Angelo Stavole

Devoted husband of the late Patricia (nee Zarlenga), loving father of Cindy (Jack) Indovina and Jociel, dearest grandfather of Jesse Barnes, Joseph Barnes, and Ashley Campos, great grandfather of Adrina and Dominic, dear brother of Jeannine Prioletti, and the following deceased Mary, Vivian, Katherine, and Anne , dear uncle and friend of many.

Tony loved working as an architect and his kind, unassuming personality was a people magnet. He always gave more than he received and if you knew him, you liked him. A devoted family man and caretaker of all, we will miss him more as each day passes without him. Many adjectives could describe Tony; handsome, blue-eyed, intelligent, thoughtful, generous and trustworthy, but the one word that perfectly describes him is honorable. His integrity was unsurpassed.

Family will receive friends Wednesday, July 26, 2023 from 4-8 PM at Craciun Funeral Home 14925 E. Bagley Rd. Middleburg Heights, Ohio 44130. Funeral Mass Thursday, July 27, 2023 at 11 AM at St. Colette Catholic Church 330 West 130 Street, Brunswick, Ohio 44212.

Interment with Military Honors at Brooklyn Heights Cemetery.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.craciunfuneralhome.com for the Stavole family.

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Anthony (Tony) Angelo Stavole was born on Wednesday July 13, 1932. Cleveland.com data central lists the high temperature for that day as 93 degress with a low of 69 degrees and less than a 1 percent chance of precipitation. It was a hot day indeed that welcomed the last child of Lena and Joseph Stavole and the only son to survive past infancy. Anthony was born at home at 1338 West 65 TH street to Clementina (Lena) Cessarina Prioletti – Stavole with the help of a mid-wife.

Anthony’s father, Giuseppe (Joseph) Stavole was born in Coreno, Italy in 1897. His mother, Maria Carmen Ravenelli was born in Abruzzi, (now called Abruzzo), Italy in 1899, though sometimes claimed Naples as home. They immigrated to the United States when they were children and met in Cleveland, Ohio as teenagers. Joseph had two brothers and one sister, Rose. Lena had five brothers (Michael, John, Joseph, Louis and Victor) and one sister, Theresa. Anthony Angelo was the baby of the family and had five older sisters; Mary, Vivian, Katherine, Anne and Jeanine. Two brothers died in childhood: Rosario was born on March 9, 1924 and lived 15 days and Angelo was born in 1925 and died on February 9, 1926 at 11 months. John Prioletti, Tony’s paternal grandfather, built two houses on West 65th street with the addresses 1336 and 1338.

The house at 1336, a double residence, was rented until the children married and moved in there with their families. The house at 1338 was also a double home and Joseph and Lena lived upstairs with their six children. Angelo and Maria, Joseph’s parents, lived downstairs. The front of the house was a sandwich shop and ice cream parlor. Maria Carmen, Tony’s grandma, was a good cook - like most Italian women. Tony remembers her making pasta and Italian cookies. In the back yard was a bocce ball field surrounded by climbing grapevines that Angelo cultivated to make wine. He grew both green grapes and purple grapes to make red and white wine. He sold the wine to the bocce ball players to drink while they played bocce ball. There was a walkway from the sidewalk to the backyard where spectators could stand and watch bocce ball games. Tables were also set up around the field. He was quite an enterprising businessman in that little Italian community.

While grandpa’s homemade wine was enjoyed by bocce ball players, his grapevines saved Anthony’s life. When he was about four years old, he went out on the second - floor porch and climbed onto a bench and then over the railing. He fell into the grape vines below and when he recounted the experience at 88 years old, he still insisted that those grapevines saved his life. Joseph, Tony’s father, raised pigeons, rabbits and chickens in the backyard for food. One of Tony’s after school chores was to make sure the pigeons and rabbits had food and water. The pigeons were kept above the garage and there were openings in the wall for them to come and go from their caged areas to the outside and they would be gone all day, except for the nesting hens. In another part of the garage were the rabbit cages, where they rapidly multiplied. There were eight mouths to feed and not a lot of money during the depression so the rabbits were a necessary food source. Tony especially liked one of his “pet” rabbits and would hold it in his arms every day after school. One day when he came home from school and went to the rabbit cages, his favorite friend was not there and he discovered the sad truth that night when they had rabbit stew for dinner. Unfortunately, all of Joe Stavole’s backyard animals weren’t so loveable. Tony had the chore of feeding the chickens. The chickens were okay, but he remembers that the rooster was crazy. When he’d enter the coop that crazy rooster would fly at him with his talons out and jump in the air, flinging himself at the poor boy that was sent to feed him.

Anthony and his family lived through the depression and although they never had much money, he had a happy and loving childhood. He remembers fun holiday times when everyone got together. Thanksgiving was spent at the grandparent’s home downstairs where everyone gathered around the large table for a big meal. There was no television, so after everyone finished eating the holiday meal, the children; Tony, his sisters and cousins would go to the movies at the Capitol Theater a few blocks away at the corner of 65th and Detroit Avenue. The adults stayed home and sat around the table to talk or play cards. Tony vividly recalls walking home from the movies in newly fallen snow and seeing the coal ash fallout from the chimneys on the white snow. The family would eat again when the children returned home and then everyone enjoyed a game of Bingo. Christmas was usually spent upstairs at his home.

When Tony was young, his family once had a calico cat named Queenie. She was a good mouser and they loaned her out to relatives who had problems with mice. One time when she was on loan, Queenie became homesick and ran away from her mouse catching job. Tony saw her as he was walking home from school and she followed him. When Tony was about eight or nine someone’s dog in the neighborhood had puppies. Tony got a black and white puppy and named him Tippy, the only dog he was ever permitted to own. One sad day Tippy was hit by a car. Everyone in the neighborhood came out to help save him, even the man who hit him. Sadly, Tippy died and was buried in the back yard. Anthony always remained an animal lover and has shared his long life with many pets; dogs, cats, hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils, rabbits, chameleons, a chinchilla, turtles, fish, a squirrel and a raccoon. But his favorite was Daisy, a yellow lab that he got as a Christmas present in 2002.

Anthony attended West High School on Franklin Avenue in Cleveland. He knew he wanted to major in architecture and after high school graduation he attended Ohio State. He was on the Ohio State wrestling team and a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. He remembers having to swallow a gold fish during hazing. When he got “pinned” (going steady), to Pat, he was thrown into Mirror Lake with his hands tied behind him. They drove him there and the guy that was supposed to untie his hands before they threw him into the lake forgot to do it. He kept flailing and slipping on the moss on the bottom of the lake until they realized he still had his hands tied behind him. Someone saw he was in trouble and jumped in to untie his hands.

When I asked my dad if his parents ever went to Ohio State to see him wrestle, he admitted that his father never knew he was wrestling. Joseph had forbidden Anthony to participate in college sports because it was too dangerous.

Anthony worked at Republic Steel when he came home from Ohio State for two summers. Another summer he drove a cab for Yellow Cab in Cleveland and he also worked as a soda jerk on Rocky River drive in a restaurant where waitresses came to the car for your order then brought your food on a tray that hung on your car door. A soda “jerk” was the person who made sodas, soft drinks and milk shakes and served customers at the counter. Anthony was also a mail carrier on Christmas break from college when Christmas cards required extra delivery help. During summer break he would also fill in for mail carriers who were on vacation.

When Tony brought Patricia Zarlenga home to meet his family for the first time, his grandmother was living with the family. She was in a wheel chair after one of her legs was amputated because of diabetes. She wanted to get a good look at Tony’s girlfriend and when she thought Pat wasn’t looking, she peered at her through opera glasses. Unfortunately, Pat turned around just in time to be shocked at being scrutinized through binoculars.

Pat and Tony graduated from Ohio State on June 8, 1956 and were married later that same day because Tony was being drafted to Korea. Pat lived with her parents, LaVerne and Joseph Zarlenga in Seven Hills while Tony was in Korea. Cindy was born on June 5, 1957. When his term ended, they moved into 2899 Jeanne Drive in Parma in 1958. Jociel was born on September 18, 1959 and the family lived on Jeanne Drive for 11 years. Pat and Tony were married for 61 years and in 2017 Pat died after a four - year battle with Alzheimer’s disease. In July of 1969 the family got their first cat, a cute little Siamese kitten. She was named Tranquility, because the astronauts landed on the Sea of Tranquility that month. She was far from tranquil however - in fact, she was a vicious little thing. We loved her anyway, despite the fact that she bit almost everyone, except Pat. She even brutalized her stud mate Hummer, and tried to keep him in the basement by growling and hissing at him whenever he wanted to come upstairs and eat. She must have stopped hissing for a while because we soon had litters of the sweetest, most gentle kittens you could imagine.

My dad’s integrity was unsurpassed. The blue plastic piggy bank on his dresser is the perfect example. One day my dad realized that he received an extra $20 at the ATM after he got home, he drove back to the bank, went inside and returned the money. The bank manager gave him the piggy bank as a thank you. I’m proud of the legacy that blue piggy bank symbolizes. I’m grateful for the code of honor that has been handed down to me.

Calvary Cemetary Plots Lena C. Stavole (1975) Section 83, Lot 4220, Grave #1, Joseph Stavole (1967) Section 83,Lot4220,Grave#2 Maria Stavole (1954) Section 54, Lot 1361, Grave#2 Angelo Stavole Joseph? (1943) Section 54, Lot 1361, Grave#1 Infant: Angelo Anthony Stavole (1925) – died Feb 9, 1926 (11 months at death) Section 50, Level 58 Grave #5035