Louis Priore

1921 - 2025

Louis Priore
Born: December 13, 1921 in Chicago, IL
Died: January 2, 2025 in DeKalb, IL
Lou Priore, 103, of Sycamore, formerly of DeKalb and Berwyn, passed away peacefully on January 2, 2025.
Born December 13, 1921 in Chicago, he was the child of Italian immigrants, Lucia (Di Benedetto) and Tomasso Priore, each encouraged by their families to leave home for America in the hope of escaping crushing poverty in their native Abruzzo.
As the youngest child in his family, Lou's birth brought joy and light to his grief-stricken mother, who'd just lost a second child to illness earlier that year. This was a special bond that was felt his whole life.
Lou learned to speak English from schoolmates but especially from his older brothers, Carm and Tony, whom he idolized.
He grew up on a street that bordered multiple ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago, a place he playfully referred to as "a real League of Nations." Never one to hold prejudice, he made friends regardless of background. It was here that he formed a close circle of friends, all of whom would remain devoted to each other their entire lives (as well as to their beloved White Sox.)
As a young man, while dancing at the Paradise Ballroom in Chicago, he met Doris Kirkwood, a jovial, sparklingly blue-eyed daughter of Northern Irish immigrants. They fell in love and married on June 4, 1949. In all their years of marriage, the two never spent a single day apart.
Born in 1951 was their daughter and only child, Nancy Ellen, or as he referred to her, the "apple of his eye." Lou was a devoted and affectionate husband and father, with a great sense of light-hearted silliness. He lived to make his daughter and wife giggle, and later his grandchildren and many great-grandchildren–whether through his witty one-liners and zingers, or his charming anecdotes involving family lore, which might include his impersonation of his pet poodle or his lovably bumbling father.
Lou and Doris each had a strong work ethic, a value instilled in them by their parents. Lou had graduated from Crane Technical High School, where he learned drafting, and he put great care into his work as a draftsman for Motorola.
As children who lived through the Depression, thrift was also an important value to them. Through their years of both hard work and thrift, they achieved financial security, fulfilling the original hope of his forebears in Italy.
But his proudest achievement in life was the large family he built… as he told each of the residents and wonderful staff at his home in the Grand Victorian in Sycamore: "from just one daughter: four grandchildren, and nine great-grandchildren!"
Love of family was everything to Lou. He spent the final years of his life cherishing his weekly lunch dates with his family in Sycamore, the long, heartful phone calls from his great-granddaughter Lucia, and regular reunions with all his grandchildren and great-grandchildren from afar. A particularly special source of pride for him was living long enough to meet and even form a bond with his great-great grandson Charlie.
As a boy his mother instructed him, "You are an Abruzzese, and to be an Abruzzese is to be 'forte e gentile'--strong and kind." Lou Priore was, above all, strong and kind.
His memory will be honored for decades to come, by all those who loved him.
Visitation will be held from 10am till 11am on Friday, January 17, at Quiram Sycamore Chapel, 1245 Somonauk St., Sycamore, Ill., with memorial service following at 11am, then a private burial at Mount Emblem Cemetery in Elmhurst.