Victor Gigante

Victor Gigante was born May 12, 1921 in Brooklyn, New York to Giovanni and Anna Gambardella Gigante, both Italian immigrants. He was raised in Brooklyn, New York City, the second youngest of six siblings; Tina, Mario, Joe, Alfonse, John and George.

Victor grew up and attended school in New York City, where he enjoyed subjects such as math and science. His nature was fun-loving, mischievous and often difficult - which sometimes resulted in his big sister Tina having to face the school nuns to get him out of trouble. While in high school, he took many miscellaneous jobs to earn some extra money. He often shared with laughter an incident that occurred while working for a man called Mr. M who owned a deli. One of Mr. M’s customers wanted a pineapple, so Victor was sent via bicycle to a local produce seller to acquire one. When Victor returned to the deli with the pineapple, Mr. M discovered it was old and sent Victor back to the produce seller with pineapple in hand. Apparently, a heated discussion ensued over the age of the pineapple. The details are fuzzy at this point, but it seems that upon eventually returning to the deli, Mr. M became responsible for replacing Victor’s broken glasses. He also spoke often about working in a watch factory with his brother John. It was tedious, repetitive work that Victor thoroughly did not enjoy. Until recently, he would still grudgingly bring up the fact that the boss still owed him his final pay, which amounted to less than one dollar. He had a fiery personality at even a young age, which stuck with him his entire life. After graduating from Benjamin Franklin High School, he enrolled in and attended classes at New York University until enlisting in the U.S. Army Air Force in 1942.

During World War II, Victor was stationed in both England and France. He learned to speak a fair amount of French, and would later recall many stories about the ‘Frenchmen’. He enjoyed the wines of France and the beers of England. Although he had several positions in the Army, his most enjoyable position was working as a radio operator on troop transport planes. Although Army life never seemed to suit him, and the ability to take orders was never one of his strong points, he served his country as a man of integrity and honor. At one point, Victor held the rank of Sergeant, but after refusing to participate in the shady dealings of a commanding officer, he was demoted back to the rank of Private. To him, it was more important to maintain his quality of character than to be coerced into something he was not comfortable with. He often shared many fond stories of his time in the Army, usually involving some type of mischief he became a part of.

After returning from the War, Victor moved around from New York to New Jersey to Ohio, taking various jobs while trying to find his place in life. While living in Columbus, Ohio and working as an electrician at the Otis Elevator Company, Victor was introduced to Mary Martha Rettemyer at a company picnic. Mary’s sister was married to one of Victor’s co-workers. On their first date, Victor took Mary roller skating, and would later recall that Mary was not a very good skater and he had to help her quite a bit. Despite her athletic abilities (or lack thereof), he was quite taken with Mary. He would often recall the emerald green dress she wore, and how pretty she looked in that color. After a time of dating, Victor and Mary were married in Columbus, Ohio on August 26, 1950.

After spending the early years of their marriage in Columbus, Victor and Mary relocated to Miami Beach, Florida where Victor’s father Giovanni owned and was a chef of a small Italian restaurant named Posilippo’s in Miami’s South Beach section. Stories were told about some famous mafia members, such as Al Capone, who were regulars at the restaurant while wintering in Miami. Along with his brother John and their “Pop” (as Giovanni was called), Victor worked in the family restaurant until he and Mary and two young daughters Sallie and Victoria left Florida and headed to California, settling in the Los Angeles area in 1956. Victor enrolled in evening classes at UCLA where he earned a BS degree in Electrical Engineering in 1958. After graduating, he worked as an engineer for several aerospace companies, including Lockheed, TRW, and Raytheon.

In the early 1960’s, Victor and Mary relocated to Westminster in Orange County where they purchased a large home and lived for many years. By this time, with the birth of their daughter Anna, their family had grown to include three daughters. Around this time, Mary returned to work, resuming her position as an administrative secretary with Hughes Aircraft Company in Inglewood, California. Every morning, Victor and Mary carpooled to work, and returned home together as well. During this time, he continued to dabble in the restaurant business. Victor purchased a franchise restaurant called Ponchito’s Mexican Restaurant, opening a location in Fullerton, California.

For weekend excitement and vacations, the whole family often piled into the car for day excursions or longer road trips. Although no one seems to be able to agree on whether these trips were actually fun or not, Victor thoroughly enjoyed taking his wife and children to see tourist sites and visit relatives. Victor took many family photographs on these trips, and it is interesting to see how the day was going based on the expressions on his daughters’ faces.

Victor himself was quite athletic and enjoyed sports of all kinds…especially baseball. From childhood, he was an avid fan of the St. Louis Cardinals. During baseball season, it was not uncommon for him to be watching games on two televisions and listening to another on the radio at the same time. His children we taught not to walk in front of the television or talk while a play was in action. He was unusually knowledgeable about baseball. He knew names, statistics and details of every player on the team – and it was often suggested to him that he should be hosting a baseball talk show. He was also a devoted long-time jogger who ran several days a week and only downgraded to walking at the age of 85. If you were a jogger, you were automatically added to Victor’s list of good people. He also enjoyed playing handball, bowled for a short time, and for some time played in an adult baseball league. On the intellectual side, Victor played chess and once even won a trophy for his chess-skill.

After retiring in the mid-1980’s, Victor still kept busy with his favorite activities. He loved buying new homes and doing his own concrete, brick and landscape work. Every home had brick, block, and concrete. It wasn’t unusual for his daughters to come by and have Victor inform them of the number of bricks he had laid that day. You can still drive past any of the homes he lived in at one time or another in Southern California and see his handiwork still intact. He did an excellent job and he was very proud of it. Retirement allowed much more time for traveling and Victor and Mary enjoyed many RV trips, often including their grandchildren Kristin and Daniel. Victor experimented with every sort of RV, from a converted van to a 30-foot motor home. Victor would lumber carefree down the highway in his RV, swerving this way and that, usually with the dog hiding beneath his feet at the gas pedal. His granddaughter Kristin once had a near miss with a watermelon when the RV hit a pothole quite hard, resulting in the watermelon being propelled out of the refrigerator and bursting into pieces on the opposite wall. He enjoyed visiting National Parks, historic sites, ghost towns, relatives, and most of all, staying off the beaten path. To celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in 2000, Victor and Mary abandoned RV-ing and flew to Europe, visiting England and France as part of a tour group.

In 2001, Victor and Mary finally left Southern California, moving from Murrieta to Las Vegas. Victor enjoyed the excitement Las Vegas had to offer – especially the craps tables and the Main Street Station hotel buffet. Most of all, he loved the micro-brew beer at the Main Street Pub. Victor and Mary were regulars at the buffet, and many of the waiters and waitresses knew them by name. It wasn’t unusual to see Mary pull a zip-loc bag out of her purse and drop a huge juicy slab of beef into it to take home for their beloved Dog. Their dog was named ‘Dog’ because in one of Victor’s favorite John Wayne movies, he had a dog named Dog. Dog had been adopted from a cardboard box outside of Hughes Grocery in Murrieta. Victor’s children and grandchildren often joked that Dog was allowed so many more privileges than they ever were. Dog’s life was a happy one - eating steak in her dinner almost every night, followed always by a bowl of vanilla ice cream.

In 2007, Victor and Mary relocated to Beaumont due to health concerns and the desire to be nearer to family. Not long after, Mary’s abilities declined due to the onset of Alzheimer’s Disease and she had to move into a nursing home for her safety. She now lives in Brookside in Redlands, and is happy and content. Victor moved into the home of his daughter Anna and her husband Jim in Redlands as well, as illness led him to be uncomfortable living on his own. Victor in time became quite close with Jim, whom he often said was like a son to him. In August 2010, Victor and Mary celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary at Brookside.

Victor passed away peacefully on April 10, 2011 at the home of his daughter Anna and son-in-law Jim in Redlands, after a long battle with cancer. His daughters Victoria and Anna were with him at his bedside. He was just about one month shy of his 90th birthday. Victor is survived by his wife of 60 years, Mary; brothers Joe of Westwood, MA, John of Deerfield Beach, FL, and George of Van Nuys, CA; daughters, Sallie Simpson of Eagle Point, OR, Victoria Bovard of Rancho Santa Margarita, CA, and Anna Allissi and husband Jim Lynch of Redlands, CA; grandchildren, Anne Marie Drury, Kristin Bovard and Daniel Bovard; great-grandchildren, Ashley, Brandon, Brock, Lilley and Jameson, and one great-great-granddaughter, Isabella.

A Memorial Service will be held at Weaver Mortuary, 1177 Beaumont Ave, Beaumont, California, on Thursday, April 21, 2011, at 3;00 PM. Private burial will be at Riverside National Cemetery, Riverside, California. Arrangements were entrusted to Weaver Mortuary, Beaumont, California.