Michael John Gazella

1927 - 2020

CEDAR PARK - After a valiant twenty-day fight in the hospital, Michael John Gazella was carried home to heaven on August 26, 2020. He was 93 years old.

Dad was born in New York on August 16, 1927, to Mike and Margaret Gazella. Soon after, his family moved to Los Angeles, where he spent his childhood and youth. He had a quietly extraordinary life and many great stories he would tell only if asked. He played youth baseball with his good friend Sparky Anderson and was at the bedside of Babe Ruth before he died, as his father Michael Sr. played for the New York Yankees. He was drafted right out of high school and sent to Germany to serve in the Army during WWII. Upon his return he graduated from UCLA, where he was a starting pitcher for the Bruins. During one off-season of his minor league stint, he worked as an engineer at KOSA-TV in Odessa, Texas, where he met "the new pretty girl at the front desk," Carole Sullivan. They were married on September 28, 1957. They raised two daughters and were married just short of 50 years before she passed in 2007. He had lived and worked in Odessa for over fifty years before moving to the Texas hill country to be near his daughters and grandchildren.

Dad was preceded by his wife, his parents, and his sister, Martha Baird. He leaves behind two daughters, Teresa Gazella of Leander, Texas, and Martha Gazella-Taylor of Austin, and her husband Jack Taylor. His grandchildren, Charlie and Lily Taylor, who called him "Paw," were the apple of his eye. He also made good friends in Leander whom he loved and appreciated.

Dad was a familiar fixture at his neighborhood Starbucks and the corner convenience store where he bought his scratch-offs, and his family appreciates the employees of those businesses for being so kind to him. We were also so touched by the kindness of countless total strangers who bought his dinner, or shook his hand, or thanked him for his service as he was always proud to wear his WWII veteran cap out in public.

A member of the Great Generation and a child of the Depression, he had many valuable stories, observations and cryptic pieces of advice. For all the teachers and coaches, he would say "Take a chance on that quiet kid in the back" as a coach did that for him. For athletes: "your most valuable tool is a short-term memory." And for everyone he'd advise to "not get so worked up all the time." He truly lived the life of an authentic and contented man.

A man of deep faith, he was a devoted member of St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church in Cedar Park Texas -- he never missed a Sunday and continued staying connected through the live streaming services over the past five months. Before that, he was a member of Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Odessa.

He lie in state on Monday, August 31, 2020 from 2:00 P.M. to 4:00 P.M. at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, in Leander. A funeral mass will take place on Tuesday, September 1, 2020, 12:00 P.M. at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. Graveside services with military honors will take place on Thursday, September 3, 2020, 11:00 A.M. at Sunset Memorial Gardens in Odessa, where he will be laid to rest next to his wife.