Seeing how you've connected with my kids over the years has been incredibly touching. You've showered them with the same love and care that you showed me when I was growing up. It's comforting to know that you're in a happy place now. Your presence in our lives has left an indelible mark of warmth and support that will always be cherished.

Pappy,

This might sound backwards, but I am joyful today. I am joyful because I know that you are happy and free.

I have to tell you... I hold a lot of admiration for you and how you lived your life. You took chances - serving in the military, then later moving your family a thousand miles from the life you knew. You found fun in even the most mundane - pranks with your fart machine to liven up the workday, and turning just about any phrase into a song. You loved with your whole heart, and while you used to rile Grandma up, the love was clearly there, even after almost 40 years.

At the end of the day, we would all be so lucky to be able to do as you did; to look back on a life well lived and so easily say "I'm ready." 

Lastly, I will always cherish spending your final days with you. I am grateful I got to watch as my son held your hand and cracked sweet smiles after meeting his great grandfather for the first time; to reminisce and laugh about your collection of cheeky hats and the one time you made banana bread so dense it was like carrying a brick; to listen with you one last time to Frank Sinatra and how he did it his way. But most of all, I'm grateful to have been present the moment your body was able to rest, and your spirit was free to move on to a place far better than here.

I love you, Pappy. Send my love to Grandma and Mom for me.

Gia (+ Chris & Sully)

A father is a thing that is forced to endure childbirth without an anesthetic. A father is a thing that growls when it feels good and laughs when it’s scared half to death.  A father never feels entirely worthy of the worship in a child’s eyes. He’s never quite the hero his daughter thinks he is —never quite the man his son believes him to be—and this worries him, sometimes. So he works very hard to try to smooth the rough places in the road for those of his own who will follow him. Fathers grow old faster than most people, because they have to stand at the train station and wave goodbye to the uniform that climbs aboard and while mothers may cry where it shows, fathers have to stand there and beam on the outside and die on the inside.   Fathers are what give daughters away to other men who aren’t nearly good enough so that they can have grandchildren that are smarter than anybody else’s. Fathers fight dragons almost daily. They hurry away from the breakfast table; off to the arena which sometimes is called an office or a workshop. There with calloused, practiced hands they tackle the dragon with three heads: weariness, work and monotony. And they never quite win the fight BUT they never give up. Knights in shining armor- fathers in shiny trousers there is little difference, as they march away to work each work day.

OBITUARY

Gerald Anthony Ciccone

April 17, 1939 – February 16, 2024

Aycock Funeral Home Young & Prill Chapel

Show your support

Add a Memory

Share Obituary

Get Reminders

Services