Joseph David Gargiulo

Joseph D. Gargiulo Age 86, former Mayor of Novato, left this world on Thursday May 10, 2012 to be with his beloved wife, Arrah, in Heaven. He died peacefully at home. Joe was married to his high school sweetheart, Arrah, for 59 years. They met at San Rafael High and they married after the war. Arrah died in May 2005. Joe was born in San Rafael in 1925 at the present site of the Panama Hotel. During World War II he served as an engineering officer in the Military Sea Transportation Service for troop transport duty in the Pacific. Joe was involved in four invasions and two rescue missions. After WW II, Joe attended College of Marin and San Francisco State and received two Masters Degrees and a California State Psychologist License. Joe spent 34 years in public education, mostly at Novato High. In 1982, he became the Director of Public Relations for the National Scholarship Research Service. Most of Joe's 55 years in Novato were filled with school, church, civic and community activities. He received numerous awards including Novato's Citizen of the Year in 1976 and the prestigious National Medal of Honor from the Daughters of the American Revolution in 1986. He was a charter member of the Novato 7-Uppers Lions Club and in 2011 he received the Lions International Melvin Jones Fellow award. He was a 40-year volunteer for L.I.T.A. (Love is the Answer), a non-profit which organizes visits to shut-ins and the elderly, and also served on their Advisory Board. Joe loved to plan parties, meetings, and mixers. He organized 15 annual Community Christmas parties for Novato's needy children. He did mixers for the Chamber of Commerce, got speakers for the North Marin Breakfast Club and did Public Relations for the Pearl Harbor Survivors group in Marin. Joe was active in local politics. In 1963, he was elected as the first Novatan to the College of Marin Board of Trustees and pushed for the establishment of the Indian Valley campus. In 1968, he was elected to the Novato City Council and served as Mayor of Novato. Although baptized as a Catholic in St. Raphael's Church in 1925, for most of his adult life he was an active member of the Methodist Church. He taught adult and Bible study classes. After his wife's death, he converted back to Catholicism. Joe is survived by his daughters Gayla Probert and Ellen (Greg) Gillen and John Angermeyer; grandchildren Adrienne (Cesar) Hombrado, Tara Gillen, and Christopher Probert. Great grand-daughters are Jocelyn, Grace, and Ciana Hombrado. Friends and family are invited to attend a Rosary at Keaton's Redwood Chapel, 1801 Novato Blvd., Novato, CA, on Monday May 21 at 7:00 PM. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church, 1000 Cambridge St., Novato, on Tuesday May 22 at 11:00 AM. In lieu of flowers, Joe asked for donations to L.I.T.A. (Love is the Answer) at 4340 Redwood Highway, Suite 101, San Rafael, CA 94903.

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