Vincent Palmo, Sr.

VINCENT NICHOLAS PALMO, SR. peacefully passed away on August 25, 2019, at his home in Cayucos, California with family by his side. He was 90 years old and had recently told his children, "I had a great run." Born March 22, 1929 to an Italian immigrant father and a first generation Italian mother, Vince grew up in Bloomfield, NJ during the Great Depression in a household filled with voices speaking Italian, the smells of his mother's from-scratch pasta dishes, and his father's strong work ethic embedded in everything. The youngest of three, Vince made his mark early as an athlete in track and football, quarterbacking the underdog Bloomfield High School team to an unexpected championship. He earned a full scholarship to Fresno State University, and at the age of 17, Vince boarded a Greyhound bus with a bag of sandwiches his mother had packed him, and rode for five days across the country. He was fond of saying he never even looked up Fresno on the map before he left. He played four successful years of Fresno Bulldog Football, creating lasting friends and memories. So began a lifetime in California that saw Vince marry his college sweetheart, Klytia John, and raise five children, as he built TriCentral Construction and then the Palmo Construction Company. His legacy includes ten grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, a sixty-seven year marriage, and dozens of schools, hospitals and public buildings across Central California that his company built. Vince also served in the U.S. Air Force, and received a graduate degree in engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, in addition to his B.A. from Fresno State. Vince served on the Board of Directors of the California chapter of the Associated General Contractors for many years, including as Chairman of the Building Division in 1972, and he received an achievement award from the AGC in 1993. A devout family man above all else, Vince was always home for dinner and helped construct the church his family faithfully attended, St. Anthony of Padua in Fresno. His love for sports and his interest in a good education were constants, and he avidly followed his children's and grandchildren's athletic and academic careers. He took great joy in the Pacific Ocean and taught everyone in the family to bodysurf from a young age, at "our" little stretch of beach in Cayucos where the Palmos have vacationed since the 1960s. Vince and his beloved Klytia also traveled the world, from Russia to China to his Italian homeland, and many points beyond. In his 40s, he took up squash and played on a national senior circuit. He spent his final years in active retirement with Klytia, looking out at Morro Rock, watching the San Francisco Giants play, and hosting a revolving door of family members who constantly visited. He would often quote his own mother who said, "They come and they go!" Throughout his life, m any young people were touched by Vince's capacity for mentoring and his legacy lives on in any person that he encouraged or helped to get their start. He liked pasta on Sundays (and any other day of the week as well), Frank Sinatra, a round of golf or a game of cards with his buddies, doing multiple crosswords a day, driving his vintage El Camino, telling people about the latest biography he was reading, and eating silver dollar pancakes made with his own special recipe. We will think of Vince every time we see the sunset over the Pacific, as he never failed to stop and watch it dip below the horizon. Survivors include his wife, Klytia; his sister, Catherine "Sissy" Guerino; his children, Lisa (and Mike) Moss, Vince (and Holly Gent) Palmo, Luke Palmo, Maria Palmo, Gina (and John) Feiner; and the grandchildren, Sam Moss, Jacob (and Lindsay) Moss, Dylan Feiner, Jack Feiner, Ava Palmo, Anna Feiner, Joseph Palmo, Nick Palmo, Kyle Palmo and Preston Palmo; and the youngest generation, Aaron and Lily Moss; in addition are his loving nieces and nephews "back East." Pre-deceasing Vince were his parents, Fred and Rose Palmo (nee Ciffrodella), and his beloved big brother, Federico Palma. Vince encouraged all of us to remember to stop by and visit him in the future at the Cayucos Cemetery, especially on one of those sunny "chamber of commerce days" on the California coast that he loved. Services will include a funeral mass at St. Anthony's, 5770 N. Maroa Avenue, Fresno, on Friday, Aug 30 at 10:30am, followed by a repast at San Joaquin Country Club. Private family interment. In lieu of flowers, please go with someone you love to a sporting event, in Vince's memory. And don't forget to take a jacket!