Lance Francis DiNonno

Our Father, Lance DiNonno, died of natural causes in his home on August 15th in Boynton Beach, FL at the young age of 79.

Lance is survived by his wife and the love of his life, his professed life saver, his beloved bride, Carolann Marie DiNonno, his four children, AnnMarie, Robert, Elizabeth and Kristen and their spouses, his 16 grandchildren and his four great-grandchildren.

Lance was born on Christmas Eve as a preemie baby to Frank and Joan DiNonno in Queens, NY and ironically lived only a few blocks away from his future bride although he would not meet her for 23 years. He didn’t like to talk about his childhood and often told us that we were so fortunate to have a mom like we had because his was the exact opposite of what we were used to. He idolized his dad, a business man and hard worker who taught him how to play the mandolin. He told us a few stories about his Italian grandmother (his dad’s mom) and the food she would make from scratch for 3 days before a family dinner. He also had fond memories of his Russian grandmother and aunt but we heard those stories even less than the rest. He spent his childhood in Queens, then Manhasset Long Island, moved to MA for two years and finished school in Oyster Bay. He applied to only one school for college, Ivy league Fordham University for the pre-med program. He traveled there on his own to interview and by using his salesman skills he talked his way in with a less than standard GPA.

Lance struggled in school due to the constant moving around and felt his classmates at Fordham were all geniuses. Unfortunately, the pre-med program didn’t work out. His talent with electronics, as he was constantly exploring the mechanics and engineering behind them soon became his back-up and he got an entry-level tech job in TV repair. He also was an avid Ham radio operator and that became a saving grace. By the time he met our mom he was working as an engineer, well thought of by management. They met at a gas station in Queens and he would often joke that he saw her legs first from across the pumps. At the end of 1963 he took a high paying job as a contract worker at IBM Kingston. Our Mom took a teaching job in Newburgh NY and they planned to marry at the end of 1964 which they did, on December 26, 1964 to take advantage of her Christmas break from teaching. He would fondly refer to her as his Christmas Carol because of their affinity to the Christmas season – every anniversary he would get her red roses to signify their first anniversary where he put red roses in the middle of white carnations in front of their big picture window at their first house and affectionately called it Roses in the Snow. He continued this tradition through the rest of their marriage.

Right after they were married Lance took a job as a Product Manager for a company that made steam valves in a small town in New York State. While there he invented a product that automated operating these big valves. He received a US patent on the design. He wanted to get into computers so he left for a job in NY City working on the first ever computer aided design software. Later he went to work as a computer engineer for a company building a camera to map the moon from the Apollo command module that orbited the moon while astronauts were walking and riding on the moon surface. After that he secured a job selling computers. In 1987 he started his own business, Sales Growth Professionals. He liked the computer sales job best. He was involved in lots of different projects from the space shuttle to computer to computer communication and even the computers that controlled the major roller coasters in Disney World. His computers controlled all 3 nuclear power electric plants in FL. He created a very advanced computer to computer link that was 8 times faster than what was available at the time. One experience he would share with us quite often would be when he had the chance to fly simulators which were the ultimate video games. Fighter jets, the Space Shuttle, the Apollo LEM and lots of other aircraft and tanks.

Lance and Carol’s marriage was long and steadfast – full of romantic gestures alongside the hardships of building a life and family together. They celebrated fully and then picked up the pieces of life together and his loyalty to her and all of us was like nothing you’ve ever seen. He would literally take the shirt off his back and give it to us (true story, he would give me his shirt in the grocery store as a young kid if I was cold and walk around in his undershirt.)

Lance was a big man - in stature and personality - a born salesman, inventor, story-teller, family lover, loyal advocate, dad, uncle, Papa and Great Grandpa. He was our biggest champion and our biggest critic at the same time. He was unforgettable and a man who was endlessly devoted to his immediate family as well as those who he claimed as family. He was crippled and legally blind and in the midst of that he did his absolute best with the faculties he had.

Our dad’s death was quick and painless in his own home which is what he would’ve wanted, leaving our family grieving this loss and wishing that we had one more day, one more conversation, one more story. His absence was felt immediately as he played an active role in his children and grandchildren’s daily lives right until the end – a life well lived and lived to the fullest as he used the gift of a sharp mind even in his old age to harness technology and interact with his children and grandchildren, despite physical limitations. His final days were spent encouraging and advising a host of young family members by phone, facetime, and social media. His final hours were spent mailing a birthday gift to one of the 20 children and grandchildren, texting to make sure it was expected, and likely planning his next outreach.

Lance’s pride and joy was his family – I could rattle off his accomplishments but none of it made him shine any brighter than that of his children and grandchildren’s accomplishments. If he were alive to see the great grandchildren succeed, as they will, he would be bragging about them as well.

We will all remember him as encouraging us to meet our goals, and believing that we could achieve anything. Now he knows we all loved him as much as he loved us and we will follow his example by doing our best to be everything he believed we could be.

He often quoted Kalil Gibran, a Palestinian poet, writing in the 1920's. I want to read two of his favorite poems – one referring to his beloved wife Carol and one regarding his children:

“You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore. You shall be together when the white wings of death scatter your days. Aye, you shall be together even in the silent memory of God. But let there be spaces in your togetherness. And let the winds of the heavens dance between you.

Love one another, but make not a bond of love: let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls. Fill each other's cup but drink not from one cup.

Give one another of your bread but eat not from the same loaf. Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone, even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.

Give your hearts, but not into each other's keeping. For only the hand of Life can contain your hearts. And stand together yet not too near together: For the pillars of the temple stand apart, And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other's shadow.

Copyright @ Kahlil Gibran.

“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts, For they have their own thoughts. You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of to-morrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday. You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far. Let your bending in the Archer's hand be for gladness; For even as He loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.

Copyright @ Kahlil Gibran.

We also wanted to add a line from one of Dad’s poems to mom – he was a fan of poetry obviously, he kept Kalil’s book the prophet in his bedside table. He would write our mom poems every major holiday and I know mom loved all of them. He was a very talented writer.

“We are both angels with one wing and when we embrace, we can fly!”

Dad - May you Rest In Peace with the angels and we know you were our biggest fan. We will listen for your cheers in the heavens and pray that our young children will get to know you through your legacy and stories.

Funeral Arrangements:

St. Malachy Catholic Church, Tamarac, FL

Friday, 11am

Burial

Our Lady Queen of Heaven 1pm

Donations can be made to my mom’s future care:

Https://bit.ly/carolcare

We would like to close with the signoff he would often use in emails to us, Remember, Papa (or DOD, dear old dad) loves you all.