John Decarlo

Doing my best 2 survive in a hostile world. 3 times really is the charm, met the love of my life @ 50 & we just celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. Wish I met her 20yrs ago! The best way I can characterize this is that I've been fortunate enough to marry my Best Friend. Got my degree in art ed. but no jobs after graduating CCSU in '75, so I fell back on restaurant work & that's where I've stayed. Diverted my passion for art into cooking food & haven't picked up an artists paint brush since I graduated; go figure! Still luv 2 read, go to movies, concerts & plays. Luv music & writing. Working on a book about taking care of an elderly, ill parent @ home until their passing, inspired by my dads and my story, (just lost him in '08). Though my daughter lives with her mother, I cherish our time together. They really do grow up too fast. Hoping 2 get to Italy before I die. Ever since Ginny & I saw 'Under The Tuscan Sun', we've had a hankering 2 visit Tuscany. Dad left me the house I grew up in & it needs a lot of work so we'll be starting on that in the Spring. I thank God every day for Ginny, after graduation I became a work-a-holic and at my peak, in the late 90's, I was working 4 jobs. Ginny showed me I was nuts and got me to take a little time to 'smell the roses'. I know, sounds trite but it's true! So now, I just look forward to spending any time I can with Ginny & Katherine; they are my life!

5-10-10 Update:

Nothing new to report. Got most of the work done on the house that we wanted to get done. Feels like we're living in a new house, it's GRRREAT!!!!! Just got my computer back after 3months, after it crashed. Great to be back online. Sorry I missed a lot on the Wilby site.

By the way, I'm working at the old Gino's Apizza on Wolcott Rd., Wtby. Stop in and say Hi!

Ciao!

3-31-15 Update:

Hey Gang, Greetings & Hope all is well with Everyone. Hard to believe-one day we're graduating high school & the next we're contemplating retirement. A lot of life in between for sure but it's all flashed by in the blink of an eye, Huh! My boss sold Gino's Pizza a little over 2yrs. ago & purchased Vito's Apizza on Meriden Rd., in Wolcott, across from Carabetta Apts. We've spent these years remodeling the dining room, setting up another branch of operation downstairs & expanding the menu. We still offer Vito's Classic Style Pan Pizza but we've also added a N.Y. Style Menu as an option to folks. We're very proud of the work we're doing there and I invite you all to stop in to say Hi. I'll be 62 in July (hard to get my head wrapped around this number) & I'm not sure where I stand with retirement. I still love what I do & not sure what else I'd do if I were to retire. Hannah, God Bless her, still tries to get me to move to Florida but I don't know. However, after this horrendous Winter, I have to admit the idea does sound appealing. She also says no one down there knows how to make pizza so that's another incentive. Ginny & I are mulling it over. Well, before another 44yrs. pass by, I'd just like to wish everyone good health & a happy life. Truth be told, I wish I could go back to our old Wilby & do it again. God Bless!

I often reflect on what a great class we had from '67 to '71. The laughs, the adventures, the 'times' we lived and went to school in. We were multi-racial indeed and for some reason we were fortunate enough to become a very tight class, even going through that tumultuous time of protests, riots, assassinations, etc. The world today needs to come together like our class did so remarkably well. Having the good fortune to go to school with 'Big Al' ( he left us all too soon), kept us cracking up every day. The happening we had called, 'How Can You Be In Two Places At Once When You're Not Anywhere At All'. The Winter Weekend Festival w/ B.J. Thomas singing his newly released, 'Hooked On A Feeling', (don't that make you feel old), that Mike & Gerry put together for us, 'Celebration', our class play, all were GREAT! I remember Mr. Coviello saying to me in the last month before we graduated, "John, what the hell is going on? You've been in my office more in the last month than all 4yrs put together. What're you trying to do, go out with a bang!" Made some great friends at Wilby, some I still manage to see or talk to from time to time. I worked with 'Big Al' at Big Y for a short time, those I see at Doo Wop concerts (Hey Linda), Joe Antonucci at business seminars, Tommy Harkins delivering my Frito Lay products keeping me high in transfats, many I've seen in various restaurants (Hey Linda, again), Nicky Valletta at his Pasta Fair, Adele at Waterbury Hospital, Mary Ann at St. Mary's, Carol Beaudoin and I bump into each other often, Officer Richie Fiske, Diane Morkys at the doctors office, etc. Whenever we bump into each other there's always a warmth and a smile that is timeless bringing me back to Wilby. One funny story that still makes me smile. When the yearbook came out I can remember Alicia saying "Look at this damn cover, there's chickens on it! Who was the idiot who put that on it?" Of course a lot of people used to say I was very deep and I guess that was one example of it. Alicia, it was me. I put the chickens on the cover of our yearbook though the intent was meant to be symbolic, I assure you. A wealth of memories to last a lifetime.