Silvio Salvatore Burdo

Died on January 27, 2013

He was 81 years old

He is survived by his daughters,Christine L. Persico,Debra C. Brennan and Deanna LaBella,his sons Douglas and Michael Harden.His brothers Benito and Victor Burdo.His grandchildren Danielle and Cara Persico and Nicholas LaBella, his two sons-in laws Kevin Brennan and Michael LaBella.

In addition to being a loving husband,father,grandfather and friend,he was very proud of his career in construction.As a member of The International Union of Operating Engineers,Local 15D

He worked for among others Dic Concrete.He was very proud of the buildings and roads he helped to build, especially those at Brooklyn College and Columbia University

He was an active member of Saint Mel's Parish in Whitestone,Queens.

His family welcomes donations to his favorite charities,

Feed The Children and Special Olympics.

This was writtenby his daughter Debra.

I am sitting at the same kitchen table as I did when I was thirteen years old and I am remembering dad's words of wisdom or as we called them" dad's sermons",he called them "heart to heart" talks.They were always meant to teach us a lesson in life and after hearing his sermons so often we could repeat them back to him word for word.

Before' Spike Lee came up with the phrase "Do the right thing" dad was teaching that lesson and others such as "When you borrow something,return it in better condition than when you received it" and also that "variety was the spice of life".

We are all so grateful to have those memories.He was not a perfect dad and I am sure I can speak for my brothers and sisters because we all know that "none of us are perfect",but he was a great loving and strict father, which is what he needed to be as a younger father raising 2 daughters on his own, as his wife was not there to help him due to illness and than their divorce.

My dad remarried and he treated his 3 new children with the same loving and strict parenting skills which he most likely learned from his Italian Immigrant parents.He instilled in all of us how important it was to have a good education and to work hard so we could go out into the world and be the best that we could be in what ever we chose to do.He taught us to be strong,independent and charitable.

He never had unkind words about anyone,maybe a few unkind thoughts for which he would ask for God's forgiveness.He was always grateful for what he had,especially the support of his friends and family, who were also there to share in his laughter and memories.

We are so grateful that we had this precious time to be with him and that his suffering was fairly short and with little pain.We are also grateful that he had all his faculties at 81 years old and that he was able to make his own end of life decisions,no matter how difficult that was for him and the rest of us. There were lots of tears and many joys.

He will always be in our hearts with many fond memories,because in the end that is all any of us will have. We are all going to live our lives to the best of our abilities or as dad would say."There is no choice"