Joanne M. Martino Trujillo of Tampa, born June 8, 1951, passed on to a better place on June 9, 2018. A Tampa native from a large Sicilian family, she was raised around many loving souls. Following graduation from The Academy of the Holy Names in Tampa, she went on to study at Loyola University in New Orleans, where she enjoyed happy times with new friends, her maternal aunts, uncles and cousins and developed a love for that city that she carried with her for the rest of her life. After returning home to Tampa, she married John V. Trujillo, Sr., started a family and distinguished herself in a career in computer sciences with General Telephone & Electronics in an era and field where there were many barriers to success for women. She persevered nonetheless and her son still remembers how confident, well-dressed and happy she was during those years and the lessons that she taught him then about having pride in your work. This was a lesson undoubtedly passed on to her by her father Anthony.
Joanne had a great laugh that made her children happy and a disposition that made them feel that they could tell her anything in the world. When her kids sought her counsel during particularly trying times, her gentle show of support, refusal to judge and sometimes quirky reference to a scene from some twenty year-old Star Trek episode (her favorite show) all worked to make them feel complete again. She was a wonderful piano player whose delicate hands played “Heart and Soul” in a way that her children will never forget. Joanne especially enjoyed rock n’ roll and some of the first sounds her kids ever heard were Led Zeppelin, Otis Redding and the soundtrack to “Hair.” While she may not have been a great dancer, she sure was a great listener, and it was fun to watch her when her favorite songs came on the record player or the radio. Joanne also loved to garden and she tried dearly to impart her green thumb on her family, yet the effect of those efforts is still trying to take root. Above all else, she loved her children and wanted them to understand the concepts of honor and decency.
Joanne is survived by her daughter, Jayna Joanne Trujillo; son, John V. Trujillo, Jr. (Paige); beloved granddaughters, Jordan and Caroline; sisters, Rosalie Hitchcock (Billy), Carolyn Beachler (Michael) and Pattie Goggin (Tim); brother, Anthony T. Martino (Loly); nephews, Jason Barker (Lucy), Anthony D. Martino (Amy) and Lucas Goggin; nieces, Celenie (Danny), Holly (Kirk), Bebe (Harry) and Monica (Ryan). She is also survived by many cousins and family friends in Tampa and New Orleans, all of whom she loved very much and with whom she had “great fun” throughout her life. She is predeceased by her mother, Corrine DiLeo Martino and father, Anthony Chillura Martino and many aunts and uncles that made her feel special. She will be missed. Her care has been entrusted to Blount & Curry Funeral Home located at 605 S. MacDill Avenue Tampa, Florida 33609. The family will hold a private graveside service at L’Unione Italiana and a celebration of life will be held at a date to be determined.
