Gerald Gioia

1947 - 2021

GERALD GIOIA Gerald Gioia (Jerry), passed away on April 10, 2021. He was born on March 23, 1947 in Buffalo, NY. He and his parents worked their way across the country and landed in southern California. He spent much of his youth by the ocean and loved to surf and be outdoors. He moved to Paradise, CA as a young adult and loved the peacefulness of the forest. Jerry loved his family, music, and baseball. He was proud to be Italian and instilled this in his children. He was well known and liked around town in Paradise, where he ran his auto repair business for many years. He spent years coaching youth sports in Paradise while his children were growing up. He was creative and funny and could fix anything. Jerry once promised his U12 soccer team, The Pirates, that he would dress as a pirate for the team banquet if they won the championship. They did, and he did. Jerry forced the family to listen to "Alice's Restaurant" before Thanksgiving dinner every year, and once passed out a quiz when not enough attention was being paid to the song. Jerry built a chicken coop when his kids wanted chickens, assembled a second-hand above-ground pool he bartered for when his kids wanted a pool, and took up snow skiing at 40 when his kids wanted to learn to ski. Jerry was proud of his knowledge and his hard work, but he had the humility and confidence to tell his kids that he wanted better lives for them than he had for himself. Everybody loved Jerry, and even when his kids didn't love everything he did, they always loved that everybody loved him. Jerry worked hard his entire life until being diagnosed with severe rheumatoid arthritis in his mid-40s. Despite spending much of the second half of his life in significant pain, Jerry never complained, and continued to get joy out of his kids, grandkids, music festivals, car shows and baseball games. Despite his illness, he found ways to continue to share his knowledge and skills with others. Once, he diagnosed his daughter's car trouble by listening to the engine over the phone, then successfully talked her through how to replace her alternator with a $15 wrench kit. He was always willing to help others and could always provide laughter for everybody in the process. Jerry liked to sing and loved all kinds of music, even becoming a volunteer roadie in his 50s at various music festivals around northern California. Jerry is survived by his wife of 50 years, Sue; by his children Joe (Sherri), Alexis (Traci), Dave (Amanda), Danny, Kate (Gabe), Nick; by his grandchildren Garett, Hanna, Charlie, Tommy, Henry, Teddy, Eli, Lia, and Alice; by his siblings Jim (Joann), Mike (Christine), Tony (Lori), and Mary (Ward). He is preceded in death by his son Jerry.