John Caretta

1954 - 2025

John Caretta

April 20, 1954 - March 9, 2025

John Caretta, Jr. left the world on March 9, 2025, much more quietly than he lived in it for just shy of 71 years. He was born to John Caretta, Sr and Jan Caretta (Zurawski), in Racine, Wis., on April 20, 1954, which was optimal timing so he could grow up in the 60s and 70s, a time that encouraged the amount of facial hair experimentation he desired. That facial hair proved to be a constant point of contention as John attended St Catherine's High School where, if he was to be believed, he spent more of his time terrorizing the nuns and skirting the rules than paying attention in class.

John's love of cars began early as he came to possess both a Firebird and a Corvette at the same time in his late teen years. He eventually leveraged both of these cars to catch the eye of Gayla Barnes, who he met on a blind date at a bowling alley and went on to marry on February 7, 1976. Much to her chagrin, he traded the Corvette not long after for a pickup truck. We can't say all of his choices over the years were entirely sound, but after 49 years of marriage, she eventually forgave him. Maybe.

John worked as a service director for Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealerships for more than 50 years, the majority of that time spent at Ewald Automotive in Milwaukee and Palmen Motors in Racine, the latter of which he retired from in the summer of 2022. If you are wondering what took so long to fix your car, those secrets are gone with him. In his minimal free time, he was a consummate tinkerer focused on home improvement, an endless menagerie of heavy machinery that he sporadically came home with (I'm looking at you random back hoe), and the family vehicles. He was, however, firmly against using or following any included directions and all remaining parts once assembly was complete were simply "extra."

While John could no longer terrorize the nuns, he had a family full of women to mess with in various ways. His wife and two daughters, Abby and Holly, were frequently on the receiving end of endless jokes or pranks. These ranged from Olympic-level Easter basket hiding to poking fun of his daughter's sledding injuries in ways that would have doctors calling Child Protective Services today. Left to his own devices, teaching Holly to drive, he made her parallel park the minivan more than 100 times before she took her driving test where they didn't make her parallel park once. While this was the norm, he made up for it with intermittent rewards like the yearly first day of Farm & Fleet Toyland trip. He always knew that the Caretta women could be bribed with shopping!

John loved Pepsi, peanut M&Ms, and fried fish in any form, often sneaking through the McDonald's drive through for a random filet of fish. He would circle parking lots endlessly so he could find the closest spot where he would then inevitably fall asleep waiting for whichever family member he chauffeured. He enjoyed a good barbecue even though he consistently overcooked everything. He eventually even grew to appreciate his grandpup, Rigby, to whom he will always be known as the "hamburger man" even though he swore "he would not tolerate any animals in his house!" Maybe he liked her because she was the only one that truly appreciated his grilling?

John was predeceased by his favorite daughter, Abby; and his father, John Sr. Left to wade through his vast collection of tools and nearly identical flannel shirts are his wife, Gayla Caretta (Racine, Wis.); daughter, Holly Caretta-Weyer (Andy Weyer) (San Francisco, Calif.); mother, Jan (Racine, Wis.), brother, Jeff (Kenosha, Wis.); and the aforementioned Rigby the Aussie. In lieu of flowers (which honestly Gayla has planted enough of in the yard), please go for a long drive or have a Pepsi and tell a story about John. If you feel compelled to make a donation in his memory, John was a kidney transplant recipient and would love for others to benefit from advances in kidney transplantation research. Please make any donations to The Kidney Project, which is doing amazing work that will eventually alter the lives of hundreds of thousands waiting for a transplant, here: https://giving.ucsf.edu/fund/bioartificial-kidney-project.

A casual celebration of life will be held The Red Onion Cafe, 555 Main St., Racine, Wis., 53403, on April 12th, from 3 to 5 p.m. Heavy appetizers and desserts will be served. Please feel free to join, wear your favorite flannel, and tell stories about John over the foods he loved.